The Nights

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
 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
 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 killed buffalo for their hides
 And so this winter our women and children
 Will feel much hunger inside
 And she learned these things
 The ways of a red man are lonely
 And his woman can expect little more
 Than a day filled with hard work and sorrow
 And so she learns to live for
 The nights, the nights
 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 killed 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
 The ways of a red man are lonely
 And his woman can expect little more
 Than a day filled with hard work and sorrow
 And so she learns to live for
 The nights, the nights
 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
 The ways of a red man are lonely
 And his woman can expect little more
 Than a day with hard work and sorrow
 And so she learns to live for
 The nights, the nights