Hollow Words

I had a dream the other night, as I lay asleep in my bed,
the spirit of an Indian chief came to me, and this is what he said.

The words of this world have made me bitter, I've lost faith in mankind,
the words they speak are hollow, and the truth is hard to find.

The words they speak are many; they shift like grains of sand,
like the salt from the ocean, these words poison the land.

I watch my people starve, while the white man's foods are plenty,
he takes our game and burns the land, and his hollow words are many.

He tells me it would be much better, to move to another land,
he speaks these hollow words to me, while he's holding my hand.

He marched us on the trail of many tears to this other land,
many of my people died along the way to serve the white man's plan.

This land that I held sacred, is now a prison for all my kind,
I was the chief of all my people, now I'm forbidden to speak my mind,

We only wanted to live on the land, where my people lived and died,
but then the white man came and pushed us all aside.

My heart is saddened, to see the white man's plan,
they took our guns and arrows, they even took our land.

Someday when the spirits come and take me away,
I hope there'd be no hollow words, in that land far away.