A reluctance to be humane
\nAnd a refusal to care
\nIndisposed and grudging
\nTotally unaware
\nNative children matter
\nThey are people of the earth
\nThey live where they found
\nThemselves
\nAnd give back all their worth<\/p>\n
These boarding schools
\nOf north dakota and south dakota
\nThey were prisons
\nNever schools
\nNo child should have ever have
\nGone to stay
\nNot allowed to speak their tongue
\nThe only one they knew
\nMade to just speak English
\nThats what people do<\/p>\n
You can feel the dreadful sadness
\nThe non-acceptance he
\nWas punished just for speaking
\nHis language it was Cree
\nIts what his mother taught him
\nHow can they expect
\nA child to speak another language
\nA difficult prospect<\/p>\n
Punished put in hand cuffs
\nThat tore into his wrist
\nThey have to have their hair cut off
\nAnd ofcourse desist
\nIn ever speaking cree at school
\nUntil ofcourse they would
\nForget their mother tongue of course
\nAnd how could that be good<\/p>\n
Constantly hit about the head
\nAnd always made to wear
\nA white dunce hat
\nSo others could treat him
\nSo unfair
\nHe didnt speak queens english
\nAnd couldnt understand
\nWhy then he should be beaten
\nAcross his head and hand<\/p>\n
His eyes packed full with tears
\nA rolling
\nGently down his cheeks
\n“Old man eagle” that his cree name
\nAnd clearly all he seeks
\nNow is to wonder why they
\nMade him kneel down by the door
\nSo everyone who came in
\nCould laugh at him for sure<\/p>\n
He prays that no one else
\nShould ever have to undergo
\nThrough all this as he had done
\nand, as he did grow
\nHe just could not get rid of
\nThe upset in his heart
\nAbuse and torture
\nAll those years
\nThat those teachers did impart<\/p>\n
Their wickedness was evident
\nBut only now that we
\nCan see how this man suffered
\nAt their hands, their infamy
\nTheir disservice to the people
\nCreating misery
\nThat would never leave a person
\nFor an eternity<\/p>\n
Such iniquitous behaviour
\nFrom teachers put in charge
\nOf native children honestly
\nClearly in their little lives
\nThis punishment ruled large
\nMany died and were buried
\nIn the school graveyard where
\nInnocent angels ended up
\nAnd nobody did care<\/p>\n
Imagine for a moment
\nOne of those children who
\nClearly felt abandoned
\nAnd admonished too
\nConstantly was told off
\nAnd beaten every day
\nIf this was life then culturally
\nIt wouldnt have been the way<\/p>\n
Native children wanted to live
\nThe ravages of time
\nWith evil all around them
\nHow essentially could they climb
\nOut of this grime and ugliness
\nHow could they ever dream
\nWhen life was one big nightmare
\nHonestly one long scream<\/p>\n
To watch this man now old and grey
\nCry out his heart
\nWhat can we say
\nOf the white man in authority
\nClearly all this subjugation
\nAnd terrible inflexibility
\nWas not lost on the gentle heart
\nBroken and beside itself
\nCrying sobbing from the start<\/p>\n
Oppressed and clearly made to feel
\nSubservient and inferior
\nImprisoned in the boarding school
\nSomewhere in the interior
\nTreated like dirt and trampled down
\nFrightened to even speak
\nFor fear of getting an awful whack
\nRight across his cheek<\/p>\n
The suffering and heartache
\nThe painfulness was there
\nBursting out of all his pores
\nProstration and despair
\nUtter desolation
\nA wretchedness as well
\nPeering into this old mans face
\nYou could feel his living hell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A reluctance to be humane And a refusal to care Indisposed and grudging Totally unaware Native children matter They are people of the earth They live where they found Themselves And give back all their worth These boarding schools Of … Continue reading