Prairie Dream

The thunder of the hooves of Indian ponies
Wild with running, beautiful as light
Flash into my dreams along the prairie
The hero Sioux, the spirits of the night

With buffalo who used to roam the mountains
Through the canyons, through the wind-blown grass
Hooves that beat past swiftly running rivers
And sounds of centuries like breaking glass

Shot from trains and shot from painted horses
Shot down running in their murdered fear
Gone before the quarter of the century
Leaving nothing but the sound of tears

Starving in their trails of blood and sorrow
Ancient creatures innocent of crime
Manifest in destiny they flounder
Like the wandering footsteps of the blind

Sundown, sunrise
Sundown, sunrise

All the sainted tribes and missionaries
All the wagon trains of yearning hearts
Testify to madness and to bloodshed
Among the buffalo as time departs

Alas, for murdering the dreams of warriors
Women, children sleep in innocence
Fires raged across the burning deserts
Let the tears of history commence

Sundown, sunrise
Sundown, sunrise

May the pioneers plant in their gardens
Among the bones of dreamers by the creek
Where they somehow found the peace of silence
With no maddening secrets they could keep

The thunder of the hooves of Indian ponies
Wild with running, beautiful as light
Flash into my dreams along the prairie
The hero Sioux, Comanches of the night
Arapahoe, the Nez Perce of the night
The Cherokee, spirits of the night

Sundown, sunrise
Sundown, sunrise