Trail of Tears

All the leaves were turning brown as we marched through Tennessee

Herding men like Moses did into the dusty sea

And though they cried to Jesus still we did as we was told

Mother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crows

They say there's a difference 'tween the white man and the red

That though they pray and work like me they're something else instead

President Jackson says it's best, but he ain't the one to go

Mother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crows

I marched down the trail of tears with a rifle in my hand

With orders not to pick them up if anyone couldn't stand

And though the sun was shining down that trail to Hell still froze

Mother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crows

Daniel Thorton held his tongue 'til he couldn't hold it back

He raised his voice to the Major's guns so they shot him in his tracks

Their bodies fed those feathered coats on blackened wings they rose

Mother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crows

What do you tell a mother who can't feed her starving child?

How can you tell a boy of ten to march a thousand miles?

What do you tell your children when they ask what words you chose?

When Mother Mercy looked away and he sky was thick with crows