The Nights

Her skin was the color

of the mountains' first winter snow

His skin was the color

of the hot sun summer glow

And they met by a river called Okemah

in an August of another time

She fell in love with this red man

and left her people behind

And she learned these things

The ways of a red man are lonely

and his woman can expect little more

And a day filled with hard work and sorrow

And so she lived for

the nights, the nights

And they followed his tribe

on a hard trail to the Dakotas far away

And they hunted a big buffalo

and they heard the old chief say

the white man has walked here before us

and killed buffalo for their hides

And so this winter our women and children

will feel much hunger inside

And she learned these things

The ways of a red man are lonely

and his woman can expect little more

than a day filled with hard work and sorrow

And so she learns to live for

the nights, the nights

That winter they died by the hundreds

the people of this red man's tribe

She walked the cold ground

and cursed the white man

who killed buffalo for their hides

And they buried their mothers and fathers

and their children they loved so

They prayed the son God will come soon

and melt the Dakota snow

The ways of a red man are lonely

and his woman can expect little more

than a day filled with hard work and sorrow

And so she learns to live for

the nights, the nights

And the spring came early to the Dakotas that year

and the buffalo numbered ten times ten

They filled their stomachs

made their clothes and started their lives again

And she bore her lover boy child

fulfilled the promise of spring

And from old comes new

and new is life and life is an eternal thing

And she learned these things

The ways of a red man are lonely

and his woman can expect little more

than a day with hard work and sorrow

And so she learns to live for

the nights, the nights