The Five Civilized Tribes

Posted by Brad Osborne on January 18, 2020 · 9 Comments 

 

 

What savages were found

By voyaged Puritans

Ships coming to ground

In search of new lands

 

They lived a different way

Ne’er seen by Anglo eyes

And that was not okay

For we, more civilized

 

We pressed upon the land

A new country to build

No want to understand

The land already filled

 

The Creek and Chickasaw

Ill-fated Seminole

Cherokee and Choctaw

Never again made whole

 

How greedily we stole

With our poisoned white hands

We, of Puritan soul

Removed them from their lands

 

Like a hungry vulture

We took their life away

We destroyed their culture

And taught them how to pray

 

And though sovereign nations

Living here by birthright

Placed on reservations

So, they were out of sight

 

Their plight the same today

Though many years have passed

What does that truly say

To those we have harassed

 

We still tell the story

A Trail of Tears was shed

But won’t wear the glory

Of where our actions led

 

 

 

 

Filed under Poetry · Tagged with Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, culture, history, minimalized, nations, native american, poem, Poetry, reservations, Seminole, strict form poetry, Trail of Tears, tribes