(Chickasaw meaning "Once I was there.")
(song lyrics)
Behind me the cannons roar.
The thunder and the clammer of the hammer and the sword.
Bayonets that point the way
Never say I'm sorry in the least.
They're marching me to Zion
And burning down my homeland in the East.
Never will my spirit ever drift so far away
You will not find me in the wind and the silence.
You will not think of me each day,
And never know my name;
But I was there, once I was there,
And I walked upon the water.
Winter skies are cold and gray.
Does the eagle cry and wonder why I have gone away?
My footsteps are soon to be trampled underneath your boots and spurs.
Your wagons take me from my homeland;
But wagons cannot take away my words.
Never will my spirit ever drift so far away
You will not find me in the wind and the silence.
You will not think of me each day,
And never know my name;
But I was there, once I was there,
And I walked upon the water.
"HEMONA KA ONAHLÍ TÖK"
Copyright © 1994 James Edward Thomas, Jr.