The Redbud Tree Whispers to Me Her Name

Introduction

A young girl of the Cherokee people has, during the 1840s, escaped from a United States government concentration camp, or reservation, set aside by the United States to hold Native Americans who had been forcibly removed from their ancestral homes. This was done to open up their land for resettlement by non-Native Americans. Below is a song she sang after escaping and trying to make her way back to her beloved home in Tennessee after the death of her mother.

          Her name was Matamis . . . When she was seven years old, United States soldiers killed her father and forced her and her mother to relocate to Oklahoma. This is her song . . . These are her memories . . .



         The Redbud Tree Whispers to Me Her Name



         The redbud tree in Tennessee whispers to me

         As in the midst of the Oklahoma night I walk

         A pouch of parched corn rests on my shoulder

         And a sharp flint knife is in my hand

         I am far from the Oklahoma prison of my leaving

         As for the men who pursue me

         The blade of the sharp flint knife in my hand

         Awaits them



         Along this Oklahoma road of sorrow

         Unafraid, I walk

         And if I listen closely

         When the wind has silenced herself

         I can hear the Tennessee redbud tree

         Whisper to me my name

         Matamis she whispers

         Matamis



         Matamis

         She murmurs

         Above the sound of parched corn being chewed

         In the still of the night when all is revealed

         On an east wind her words are carried

         Matamis

         Run to me

         Little one



         Aie-e-e-e-e

         The Great Smokey Mountain redbud tree

         Whispers to me her name

         Come to me little one she adds

         Matamis the eyes of evil

         Reach for you

         On all my lonely days and nights I miss you

         In Tennessee I await you



         Oh father

         Your daughter Matamis calls to you

         From beneath a sky of blue

         Hear her words

         Sing for her once more

         Hold her again father

         In your arms

         Teach her

         The ways of your people

         Wipe away her tears

         Cause her to smile



         Mother

         Come to me

         Hug me tight

         When I think

         I am alone

         In the wilderness

         Of night

         Whisper in my ear

         Beneath the starlight

         Your words of love

         I long to hear