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The Cycle Repeats, Until We End It. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2026-04-02  

This poem that follows is just a reminder that other groups of people have gone through “hard times, deadly times” and yet their ideals and dreams and their descendants have survived...

The Cycle Repeats, Until We End It.

When Europeans first came to our lands,

soon just to be known as White Man,

we made agreements that you broke so quickly,

almost before the smoke from our pipes cleared

or the ink on your paper dried,

your promises snapped like twigs underfoot.

Then you began the slow moving genocide –

your rifles' bullets tore down our braves,

your soldiers' knives butchered our women and children,

your hunters slaughtered the buffalo,

leaving great piles of rotting meat on the plains,

your agents poxed us with blankets.

Often you took us completely

from our tribal land,

and marched us bellies empty and feet bleeding on harsh trials

where our tears patterned the dirt our steps trod

as the old and the young died along the way.

Finally it seems, we were too small,

invisible, to be your collective concern,

though you continued to kill and jail our men,

kidnap our women and otherwise

abuse us individually, still breaking agreements,

it is ONLY JUST,

a little bit worse, now,

than what you do daily to

hispanics, blacks and asians

and anyone else, includIng white people,

who are poor...

But we survive.

In the last three generations our nations

have regenerated our old ways,

found again our singing voices,

our inner suns shine brighter,

and we travel with more surety

the long road that leads back

to oneness with the land,

and yes, you are at it again,

the lost-soul-whites,

taking away rights and willing to

destroy the earth's bounty,

for momentary gold,

pushing us all towards extinction,

white, black, brown, lgbtq+ and

native together.

United today, we can stop the ongoing

planting of their seeds and deeds of madness,

remembering through the struggle and darkness,

we are not fish flopping helplessly on the banks,

but beings of creativity, of persistence, of love,

of wisdom, who will again survive...

THEIR TIME will end!

And WE will still be,

part of the true spirit

and meaning of life.

©2026 Carl Scott Harker

_____________________________________________

If you like reading read poetry out loud, this book is for you. It is available on Amazon here: 50 Great Poems to Read Out Loud or available at Barnes and Noble online here: 50 Great Poems to Read Out Loud

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