The Last Poets - Before the White Man Came lyrics

Happy the days when once we roamed the land completely free Good were the times when Village Heads dictated policy. Great was the hunting in those days abundant was the game Peaceful relations we all had Before the white man came Tall was the stalks of corn we grew Large, the tobacco leaf Healthy our bodies and our minds Strong were our backs and teeth Many a moonlit night was spent dancing around the flame Never a hungry moment met Before the white man came Clear were the streams that cross this place Fishing was at its best Silver and Gold the trinkets we wore In the finest of clothes we were dressed Large were the herds of long horn steer and buffalo on the plains Full was the peace-pipe that we smoked Before the white man came And then the day of the curse arrived and they landed on these shores What manner of being is this? we said We've never seen them before But even so we extended them our hand As we would unto a friend How could we have known that syphilis and daps and plague had come with them And now it's been 400 years since that eventful day but if we had known what they had in mind They would all have died in the bay So now we are paying for our mistake with only ourselves to blame With memories of the good old years Before the white man came.