Choctaw Woman  

Choctaw "Hacha hatak" (river people) ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ I look to the long road behind My heart is heavy with my people's sorrow Tears of grief I weep - for all that we have lost As we march ever farther from the land of our birth On the Trail of Tears Mile after mile and day after day Our people are fewer with each rising sun Disease and starvation they take their terrible toll And though we suffer still we march on On the Trail of Tears I watch my beloved weaken and fall Upon the road like so many before With tears in my eyes I hold my wife to my breast And in my arms she breathes her last On the Trail of Tears Mile after mile and day after day We march to a land promised us for all time But I know that I can no longer go on I know that is a land that I shall never see On the Trail of Tears As my body - it falls to embrace the earth My spirit - it soars to greet the sky With my dying breath am I finally set free To begin the very long journey towards home On the Trail of Tears ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ Brian Childers