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GRANDFATHER’S DYING WORDS
Ken Fernquist co-write

Once the sun shone down with golden rays Stars were hidden within the days
A dream for now, of a life back then forever lost, never again

Long, long ago my son, when our people lived on the mountain
We flew as eagles, and ran alongside our brothers, the great buffalo
Suddenly, there came a new race, white men, and they brought war
We fought so hard to protect our homes, our families, and our nation
Moons passed, braves fell, and the blood ran like a stream in the spring
The white men were so many, we had never dreamed of such as this
Where did they come from, why are they here, what is becoming of us
Anger rose like the sun as we fought to survive, and it boiled in our hearts

Alone within the crowd alone among the others
Shout the curse aloud Mute words between the covers

We held many sacred dances and ceremonies to invoke the Spirits
Imploring out to the night, screaming for vengeance with painted faces
Memories of running free, chasing rabbits, fishing in the swollen river
Those days were lost, it seemed forever, we became renegades, outlaws
Combat was a part of our lives, fighting the enemy tribes, and white men
We longed to reverse the days, and live at peace with the Earth and Spirits
We saw these violent assaults by these white men as a threat to our very souls
As if we were somehow separated from our natural harmony, drifting..

Somewhere everything died young Misery dripping from our tongue
Experts now, live through pain Rejected, are we still sane

Slowly, ever so slowly, we learned to endure, though not very well
The white men kept coming and coming in ever increasing numbers
Some of our brothers went into the mountains to save their families
The burial grounds of our ancestors inspired and haunted their dreams
Nothing, or no one is immortal, our people fell to the war every day
White men slaughtered our buffalo by the thousands, and destroyed our crops
Women and children suffered and died as well as the old and weak
Our own grandfathers perished seeing their entire world exploding around them

No one ever showed us a way to avoid that mystical final day
Blazing outward from deep within Our eyes aflame to seek revenge

Rage, such evil rage, was rightfully ours, we were victims of the white men
Predatory instinct….We ambushed and hunted the white men as prey
Their military battles against us are written as glorious and heroic
Someone failed to mention the wreckage that our nations had become
Some of our nations were reduced to bones, just like the deer and the buffalo
We found it difficult to hunt for meat, since the white men killed our game
Can you imagine, my son, we existed for centuries as noble hunters
Then it became virtually impossible to continue living as we had before

Those who would quicken our deterioration,
Will they make it worth the wait or destroy all sensation
Pain rules over love and hate… How to describe fate

As the white men traveled west, their wagon trains were so slow
The women and children riding inside reminded us of our own
Even their rifles and pistols couldn’t stop our constant raids
White men called it settling the new world, we called it invasion
The white Army rode in straight columns with blue uniforms and hats
Bugles, drums and sabers, shouting orders on fine, strong horses
We were their convenient enemy, in return, we took their women
Rape was common, abductions occurred on both sides for so long

Escape to comfort by any means…Dazed by the agony and pain
Life is worth living when you don’t know the rain

Soldiers came to us with papers, treaties they called it, for us to sign
At first, we accepted what they said, we all wanted to end the fighting
Alas, lies were common we soon discovered that they couldn’t be trusted
We went where they told us to go, and they said we couldn’t stay there
The Black Hills were sacred to the Lakota for centuries before the invasion
Gold suddenly became more important than honor, money before integrity
War again, before the Lakota had even begun to resettle their lands
White men measured riches in money, we saw crops, horses, families

Someone told me long ago, Life goes beyond what you know
Give into the things we hear, Feed our minds, embrace our fears

It seemed as if our lives were unreal, almost like a common nightmare
Virtually every nation from the Apache to the Zuni, was devastated
We could never again honor the sacred traditions of our people
Somehow we learned to get by, although not well, on reservations
Fictional accounts, movies and books, created the image of savagery
Buffalo Bill depicted us as caricatures, reduced us to simple entertainment
No one bothered to remember the traumatic assaults that nearly killed us
Strange how illusion seems to vanish from sight, even a national culture

We must choose a mask of smiling faces to wear with others in public places
But alone we travel to the final share, it matters not what mask we wear

Nothing could have prepared us to suffer such a large scale offensive
Our ways took only what we needed, we always respected all Spirits
From the mountain lions, eagles and wolves, to the rocks in the stream
We danced to show our true and sincere appreciation to the Earth
White society, after forcing us to defend ourselves, saw us as barbaric
Regarded as such, we sought to avenge our dead, silent and lethal
In those efforts to preserve our dignity were borne the fiends of literature
Movies endlessly depicted us as fierce, primitive demons of the plains

Everyone tries hard to define loss of blood and fire
Stumbling along, happily blind before we all expire

There is no way, my son, to count and honor all the millions of lost souls
Legendary chiefs, such as Red Cloud and Sitting Bull are no more than history
The white man does not care about the heritage and traditions of our nations
We can only hold onto the few slowly dissolving accounts that do still remain
Our freedom to exist as autonomous, individual nations was lost forever
The white men established a federal branch of their government for us
We knew that we could never expect fairness or equality from the white men
We became mired in paperwork, and left to decay on the reservations

Let me tell you, the day is near when all things come true
Rise above your veil of tears into deepest darkest blue

The white government decided that we must endure more unjust discrimination
Employment, medical care, education, these were just barely adequate
Housing was dilapidated, at best, unlike other Americans, more like POWs
We were treated like the captured subhuman refugees of some evil empire
Simply because the white men ran away from their own crimes
Money and power meant everything, even in the face of our annihilation
My son, I hope that you do not think that I am asking you to take revenge
I ask that you never forget what brought our people to this wasted place

Through the dark clouds emerges
A thin ray of light
A reason for living
To end that long and terrible night