The Song of Chief Seattle (choral music)
This post is a listening experience.
Please click PLAY:
Thanks to reader Alex Greene for sharing the music above.
Cover image from University of Washington, Ray Coombs, 1891.
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Lyrics shared by Sue Dream Walker -
Every part of this Earth is sacred to my people;
Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore.
Every mist in the dark wood,
Every clearing and every humming insect is the holy memory of my people.
The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of my people.
The perfumed flowers are our sisters.
We are part of the Earth, and the Earth is part of us.
The deer, the horse, the great eagle are our brothers.
We belong to the same family.
If we sell our land, you must remember that it is sacred.
The shining water that moves in the streams and the rivers is not only water, but the blood of our people.
If we sell you our land, you must remember to teach your children to give the rivers kindness that you would give your brother.
The red man has always retreated before the advancing white man as the mist of the mountains runs before the morning sun.
The white man does not understand our ways.
He treats Mother, the Earth, as a thing to be bought and sold.
He will devour the Earth and leave behind only desert.
Where is the thicket? Gone.
Where is the eagle? Gone.
Goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt.
The end of living and the beginning of survival.
For some special purpose God had given you dominion over this land.
That destiny is a mystery to us.
The Earth is precious to God.To harm the Earth is to harm its Creator
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More Chief Seattle here:
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