Bones shattered/in the early morning breeze/not so easy to breathe/behind glass/nowadays/Coercion/lies/signs and counter signs of duress/sign the treaty/sirrah/chief/fifty thousand acres a legacy lost/aahh but now/ we have a mueseum/a legacy shattered/with the drying of the ink/and tabletures of reality/sign/or die/winter counts/important pictographic records/recorded events/(don't touch/don't photograph/it's fragile/even though it's yours/and under glass/)yea/the winter counts/that which became/our blood misery/our red-earth his story /eleven hundred dead/six thousand dead/one thousand dead/(but look here/we honour you with a building/with your stolen things within/and the bones of your people/that you can visit/during busines hours/)Measels/ Scarlet fever/the/Black small pox with this you shineabove all others/you pale and hollow/whatever diseases we have/whatever labels we carry in your words/YOU brought them with you/as the true savages/of our lands/(oohh ain't he cute?smile baby smile/dressed in his uniform/broken from his people/set before a camera to record this event/in a picture gallery/of heroes in/OUR mueseum/yea ain't he cute?!)Diseases strong and true/these you gave us/these you gave/to the ghost people/of the Blackfeet nation/these and others like them/have become a testimony/to these/...numbers/We became statistics/of the/FORCED allotments/of our earth/the/FORCED assignments of agriculture/the/FORCE/and killing pressure/of becoming/"civilized"/But oh LOOK/we/have a museum/now)

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The people's faces/tell their own stories/of endurance/of hardship/and survival/and were a true rendering to be made/of a winter count/as we know its/asred-earth/knows it/ it would be a quite different telling of these/accounts/...accounts/degradations of dignity/to be paid in full/of survival of ignorance and predjudice/and a paper made of blood words/that gives more/than an official apology/with a disclaimer/five pages later/*Oh LOOK kids/LOOK/we INDN folk?/we have a museum/LET"S GO look at grandma /grandpa/and the rest of our tribe)/The rain may fall/the waters rise/and hurricanes blow/with their breath/strong enough/ to force/buildings from earth/they may make landfall/to linger/and die/or not to be/at all/but a tropical storm/depression/and yet/the thunders are/and they describe/the storms/and their furies/as beneath and below/in contact with earth/andn connections to dreams unguessed/The people/CRY OUT/We have seen your wars/walked your battlefields/Bled and died/in your police actions/and returned to our homes/more damaged than we were before/but/WE CAME BACK/to OUR red-earth/Walking/Hitchhiking/back through the dust/with no GLORIOUS parade/to our misery unchanged/to our/still dividing/and lesssening earth/(but LOOK/NOW on T.V./five HUNDRED nations/us/the people we were/and oh yes/NOW/we have a museum)/and should we/stay here/and should we practice what you preach/Will you leave us alone?/Will you leave us in peace/in OUR homes?

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How began these battles/These/"police actions"/we fought?/For what/over what?/The cause/what was the cause?/we fought for continue to/fight for/so that you can keep/what you stole/You have said it/and we have heard it/from your paste and pale Generals full of your/...military might/Talking/crying/singing of peace/that this is the way/of it/that Cries for peace/are the surest way/to incite an aggressor/and were we to say anything/as first nation people/perhaps we would ask this/How would you know/be so familiar with this philosophy/if it weren't/that you pale and hollow WERE the aggressors?/You speak/of freedom/You speak/of liberty and the rights of humanity/yea/you speak of many such things/things that are not often evident/within your society/and other things/we have never/asked you for/we have ever only/asked for/WISHED for/peace/instead you gave us/disease/war/and famine/Knowing now YOUR TERMS/for peace/maybe we as indigenous red-earth nation people/maybe we should ask/ for nothing more than distance/from you/(C'mon kids/let's go/this place weirds me out/like a/...Mauseleum

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SOLDIER BLUE