[Verse 1:] Her skin was the color Of the mountains' first winter snow His skin was the color Of the hot sun summer glow And they met by a river called Okemah In an August of another time She fell in love with this red man And left her people behind And she learned these things [Chorus:] The ways of a red man are lonely And his woman can expect little more And a day filled with hard work and sorrow And so she lived for The nights, the nights [Verse 2:] And they followed his tribe On a hard trail to the Dakotas far away And they hunted a big buffalo And they heard the old chief say The white man has walked here before us And k**ed buffalo for their hides And so this winter our women and children Will feel much hunger inside
And she learned these things [Chorus] [Verse 3:] That winter they died by the hundreds The people of this red man's tribe She walked the cold ground And cursed the white man Who k**ed buffalo for their hides And they buried their mothers and fathers And their children they loved so They prayed the son God will come soon And melt the Dakota snow [Chorus] [Verse 4:] And the spring came early to the Dakotas that year And the buffalo numbered ten times ten They filled their stomachs Made their clothes and started their lives again And she bore her lover boy child Fulfilled the promise of spring And from old comes new And new is life and life is an eternal thing And she learned these things [Chorus]