The driver’s whip lashes
And his teeth mashes
We must stumble on
On our feet until we are gone
From our land
From our home
A trail of tears we walk alone
My partner stumbles
Our driver yells
As my brethren fell
And I am forced on
Unable to help my kin
I struggle on
Almost overthrown
As my legs are stiff and tremble
While my driver’s are thick and nimble
All our tormentors do is
Whip, whip, whip
“Move! Move! Move!”
Not a single rest
Oh, our aching chests!
Bruised and cold all over
Our stomach churns
And our scars are like burns
A trail of tears we walk alone
I stumble again but stay up
I must stay on my feet
An Indian down
That stays down
Means an Indian dead
But I stumble again
And fall to the ground
And have little strength
To walk again
For a trail of tears we walk alone
My driver snarls, “Up on your feet, Sam!”
I groan and I feel the sting of the whip
“Up!” my driver shouts, “or I’ll shoot you!”
I hear a bang ahead and knew what just transpired
By now I had no will left, let me expire
The soldiers cries deaf in my ears
And from my eyes came the final tears
And as the soldier drew his gun
I saw the dying sun
It was inevitable that white man would win
They were stronger than me, those men
Oh, a trail of tears we walk through
As mighty as a stormy sea
For we are the sea
Our drivers the storm and the whips the lightning
It is now no use for fighting
Our tears are our chains
Upon this foreign, frozen plain
What is there now in the life for me to gain?
My family is slaughtered
My home burnt
My last thing to do in this life
Is to bless my brethren
May the sun shine on them
May the stars shine for them
And may they escape and heal
And may all peoples remember the trail of tears