Shed No Tears

Shed No Tears

The people stumbled along the trail,
So proud they were, not one of them wailed.
Herded like sheep by the mounted men,
On a journey to who knew where, or when

With temperatures freezing, travel ceased,
There was no place fit for man or beast.
Ten thousand would die from this genocide,
A trek to lands that had been set aside.

Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek,
‘Five Civilized Tribes’, for them life was bleak.
Relocated by the white man from their land,
It was no longer theirs, from it they were banned.

The Seminoles revolted, fled to the swamp,
In there, over the white man they did romp.
Some were relocated, but more never quit
And in the Everglades still, there they sit.

The only Indian Nation never to sign
A treaty with the White Man, they aren’t blind,
Kept their sovereignty intact to this date,
Never overcome by the United States.

Choctaw Chief Nitikech said in one breath,
“This removal is a ‘Trail of Tears and Death’
To this day, listen close and you may hear,
Soft cries of sorrow, yet they shed no tears.

Jim Dorrell
5/15/11