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Trail Of Tears
| Open Poetry #29 |
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Trail Of Tears |
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Abe Senior Member
since 2003-05-28
Posts 694Looks like Vero Beach, FL until the end! 
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THE NEVER ENDING TRAIL We whites honor the "Hermitage" And the man who once lived there - But, that leader of our Nation Was cruel, unjust, unfair - He ordered the removal Of the Cherokee from their land And forced them on a trek That the Devil must have planned - One thousand miles of misery - Of pain and suffering - Because greed of the white man Could not even wait till spring - We should bow our heads in shame Even unto this day About "The Trail Of Tears" And those who died along the way. It was October, eighteen thirty-eight When seven thousand troops in blue Began the story of the "Trail" Which, so sadly, is so true - Jackson ordered General Scott To rout the Indian from their home - The "Center Of The World" they loved - The only one they'd known - The Braves working in the fields Arrested, placed in a stockade - Women and children dragged from home In the bluecoats shameful raid - Some were prodded with bayonets When, they were deemed to move too slow To where the Sky was their blanket And the cold Earth, their pillow - In one home a Babe had died Sometime in the night before - And women mourning, planning burial Were cruelly herded out the door - In another, a frail Mother - Papoose on back and two in tow Was told she must leave her home Was told that she must go - She uttered a quiet prayer - Told the old family dog good-bye - Then, her broken heart gave out And she sank slowly down to die - Chief Junaluska witnessed this - Tears streaming down his face - Said if he could have known this It would have never taken place - For, at the battle of Horse Shoe With five hundred Warriors, his best - Helped Andrew Jackson win that battle And lay thirty-three Braves to rest - And the Chief drove his tomahawk Through a Creek Warrior's head Who was about to kill Jackson - But whose life was saved, instead - Chief John Ross knew this story And once sent Junaluska to plead - Thinking Jackson would listen to This Chief who did that deed - But, Jackson was cold, indifferent To the one he owed his life to Said, "The Cherokee's fate is sealed - There's nothing, I can do." Washington, D.C. had decreed They must be moved Westward - And all their pleas and protests To this day still go unheard. On November, the seventeenth Old Man Winter reared his head - And freezing cold, sleet and snow Littered that trail with the dead On one night, at least twenty-two Were released from their torment To join that Great Spirit in the Sky Where all good souls are sent - Many humane, heroic stories Were written 'long the way - A monument, for one of them - Still stands until this day - It seems one noble woman It was Chief Ross' wife - Gave her blanket to a sick child And in so doing, gave her life - She is buried in an unmarked grave - Dug shallow near the "Trail" - Just one more tragic ending In this tragic, shameful tale - Mother Nature showed no mercy Till they reached the end of the line When that fateful journey ended On March twenty-sixth, eighteen thirty-nine. Each mile of this infamous "Trail" Marks the graves of four who died - Four thousand poor souls in all Marks the shame we try to hide. You still can hear them crying Along "The Trail Of Tears" If you listen with your heart And not with just your ears. The preceding was partly inspired by a story told to children by John Burnett on the occasion of his eightieth birthday in 1890. It was printed in a book titled "Cherokee Legends And The Trail Of Tears", adapted by Thomas Bryan Underwood. My main inspiration, though is the shame and disgust I feel as I learn more about the atrocities perpetrated by our forefathers and the injustices which still occur to the true Native Americans. John Burnett was a Private in an infantry company which took part in the Cherokee Removal of 1838-1839. Near the end of his story he says, in part, "Future generations will read and condemn the act .....". Do we? In closing he says, "However, murder is murder whether committed by the villain skulking in the dark or by uniformed men stepping to the strains of martial music. Murder is murder and somebody must answer, somebody must explain the streams of blood that flowed in the Indian country in the summer of 1838. Somebody must explain the four thousand silent graves that mark the trail of the Cherokees to their exile. I wish I could forget it all, but the picture of six hundred and forty-five wagons lumbering over the frozen ground with their Cargo of suffering humanity still lingers in my memory. Let the historian of a future day tell the sad story with its' sighs, its' tears and dying groans. Let the great Judge of all the earth weigh our actions and reward us according to our work." If only it worked that way! Del "Abe" Jones |
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| © Copyright 2003 Del - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Ericc Member Elite
since 2003-01-31
Posts 4178 |
Wow...!! Eric |
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Marge Tindal 
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
Abe~ You would already know that this little Cherokee cherishes this~ I've walked a small portion of The Trail of Tears, where my forefathers were made to suffer such tremendous losses ... my god, my god ... the true history should be required reading for all, just so they know~ Oh, what they do not know ... hidden between the lines in the history books~ *Huglets* ~*Marge*~ ~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost, |
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KuruShio Member
since 2003-11-18
Posts 110 |
This write moves me it reminds me so much of the books "The Fronteirsman" and "A Sorrow in our Hearts" written by Allan W Eckert The first is the life of Simon Kenton a man who became a hero of the frontier. The latter is a account of the life of Tecumesa The warrior who attempted to unite the Shawnee nation. in both these books the cruelty and greed of humanity can be easly seen. They are sad tales of the one truth of politics that has never changed, "who ever has the bigger gun wins." again i enjoyed this write thank you for sharing Neither night nor day can give me purchase only purged dust on earth can avenge the worthless. |
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Dee Member Elite
since 2000-08-19
Posts 2330Queensland, Australia |
Abe, thank you for teaching me something important. Dee Stand straight and tall, not the reflection as others see you, but as you truely are. Clearwater |
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steavenr Member Elite
since 2003-11-17
Posts 4058 |
With purebred Cherokee blood running through my family's veins until the Civil War, when my great-great-great-great-great grandmother married a Union officer--I thank you for this piece. I thank you for my mother's side. I thank you from my father's side. I thank you for me. |
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dingusjr Member
since 2003-09-24
Posts 415Missouri |
David Crockett was one of the few to protest. It was his big break from Jackson. Thanks for the history lesson. Well done. |
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passing shadows Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577displaced |
I'm in awe |
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A Romantic Heart Member Ascendant
since 1999-09-03
Posts 5496Forever In Your Heart |
This cheerokee is honored..let the truth be known from sea to sea....crying are the souls of the indians, speaking to humanity.. My great grandmother was full blooded Cherokee... History books need to be re-written.... ~ARH  |
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Magnus
since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135South Carolina, USA |
Excellently written Abe, the 1830s were not good years for those native to our land. And yes, a shameful past for many... |
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