Before The White Man Came Lyrics & Chords By The Last Poets

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.