Parcel of Rogues

from Of Hard Times & Harmony by Windborne

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lyrics

From California to Massachusetts Bay
From sea across to shining sea
In redwood forest and waves of grain
Lies the beauteous land of our country

Yet before we came these lands were bound
To peoples in relation
To a land now seized as stolen ground
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation

When English pilgrims settled here
They met with native peoples
They bargained to build their homesteads near
And professed they would be peaceful

Then to start a war for land they claimed –
A convenient accusation –
That poor John Sassamon was slain
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation

Oh woe betide the Cherokee,
The Seminole, and the Choctaw
They’ve cast out now the Muscogee,
They’ve banished as well the Chickasaw
Through spurious claims their land was seized
They were driven in forced migration
A trail of thousands to starve or freeze
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation

These trials endured and hardships borne
Tribes started to recover
So laws were writ and children torn
From the arms of their own mothers

To fracture language, kin, and clan
In schools of assimilation
We will “Kill the Indian, and save the man,”
Said the parcel of rogues in our nation

Farewell then to their sacred ground
Farewell their ancient glory
For highways we’ve dug up their burial mound
But buried their culture and story

Now we must write the next verse of the song
One of harm or reparation
And will we choose to right the wrongs
Of the parcel of rogues in our nation?

credits

from Of Hard Times & Harmony, released December 2, 2022
Melody traditional
Lyrics by Windborne, inspired by Parcel of Rogues by Robert Burns

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Windborne Brattleboro, Vermont

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