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My People's Pain
21 May, 2004
Author: Teresa Ortberg

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We once walked the earth was heads held high
But dared not look in white mans eyes.
They took our land and children too,
To feed their greed and make them you.
Our women were taken to be as slaves,
Now Grandmothers lay in unmarked graves.

Lady Liberty reaches to those who lack,
But all we see is Liberty's back.
You think by the Spirits we are misled,
While the headlines read, "Elvis lives" and "God is Dead"

With fire and smoke we honor the Earth,
For all her gifts and all she is worth.
The smoke now rises from a source of "production",
Rather than honor Her, you plan Her destruction.

To ask before taking is what we were taught,
But the opposite resulted in the battles we fought.
"Savage and Stupid" is how we've been labeled,
But what did you do to put food on your table?

Raping and pillaging went hand in hand,
First to the people, now to the Land.
We honor the wind that now smells of smudge,
We honor the water that wreaks of your sludge.
Homage is paid to the four leggeds, the feathered and finned
To breathe of clean air, how much would you spend?

Life is a circle in which we all travel,
but the mess that has been made, we first must unravel.

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