my father used to say
“my darling, what’s your strategy?
cause your people won’t survive alone
on all your theory
use your mind and use your heart
to be the change you want to see”
so this is how i walk the path
creator made for me

when i eat the rice, then i clean the bowl
if i scorch the sky then i mend the hole
if i slay the herd, everyone pays the toll
because we all have to drink the water

i left home for education,
to replete an eager mind
with my wisdom to recover,
and my young will to refine
what my people knew of fishing
they’d forgotten over time
so i returned home to my people
with a fishing line

and when we eat the rice, we clean the bowl.
if we scorch the sky then we mend the hole
and we’ll catch the wind
because we can’t clean the coal
and we all have to drink the water

100 years after
i was killed by calvary
i journeyed to the great white land
to seek apology
Tom Daschel said he’d only grant
the state’s regrets to me
Cause apologizing one time
might just set the floodgates free

but you ate the rice now you clean the bowl.
you scorched the sky
so you must mend the hole
you took my voice
right with the land you stole
but we all have to drink the water

yes you ate the rice so you clean the bowl
you scorched the sky
so you must mend the hole
you slayed the herd and still won’t pay the toll
but we all have to drink the water