GREAT WHITE FATHER.

When we first heard your words
We all wondered what to do
And so we gathered together
To bestow a name on you.  

We decided to call you Great White Father
It was a name given in terms of love,
But then you sent your soldiers
And dis-honoured us in blood.  

You spoke of us as children,
In need of a guiding light,
But when we refused to kneel before you;
In fury you turned on us with spite!  

Your soldiers came again and slaughtered,
Our men, women and children too,
They drove us from our sacred lands
Under the watchful eye of you.  

You made us suffer in such a way,
That no true father would do,
And then to ease your own conscience,
You decided to pass a law or two.  

And when we signed your treaties,
Expecting now to live in peace,
We did not fully comprehend or realise
That our defences had already been breached.  

Then white men came in such numbers,
We could not hope to stem the tide
And in order to protect our lands,
We fought, suffered and died.  

Now I who was made to suffer,
Throughout this awful time,
Do not call you father,
For you are no kin of mine.  

Shunkepi Nunpi
October 2003

LISTEN.

I hope to speak words of wisdom
For all of you to hear,
And it is my burning desire
That you will hold them dear.  

For the path that I have travelled
Throughout this life of mine,
Has been full of hardship
And has often been unkind.  

It was not the life I wanted
Or indeed mine to give away,
And although it made me suffer
It had to be this way.  

For I would not have learnt
All there is to know,
About the depths of man
And what is in his soul.  

My eyes would not have seen
The bright colours of the heart,
Or heard the words of wisdom
Spoken from the heart.  

For I have seen most clearly
The grapes of wrath of man,
In all there bloody glory
Sowing seeds across this land.  

For I was one of many
On whom the burden fell,
Who’s life was made a struggle
Who’s existence became a hell.  

For I was born upon the plains
Long before the white man came,
And although stories told of him
Our lives he was about to change.  

At first we took these strangers in
And fed them with our meat,
But they were of a different mind
And so they began to cheat.  

They cheated us for buffalo robes
Along with all the hides we cured,
And in return they gave us
Nothing but disease and sores.  

And as their greed grew stronger
Our land they began to invade,
And when we tried to stop them
They sent us to our graves.  

They did not want to listen
Or recognise our rights,
And in our efforts to remain
We knew we had to fight.  

And then the soldiers came along
With long knives and with guns,
They sought us out and shot us down,
And with our women they had their fun.  

They would not understand our ways
Or our beliefs that we held dear,
Or the pain we felt in life
Whenever they came near.  

They forced us on a reservation
Far away from home,
Where they left us to sit and die
From hunger and from cold.  

These years have taught me much
And this I pass to you
So heed my words most carefully
For the same could happen to you.  

Accept others as you find them,
Give to them your friendship and trust,
And don’t let the greed that blind us,
Turn this world to dust.  

Shunkepi Nunpi
October 2003