The black bird is singing on Michigan’s shore As sweetly and gaily as ever before. For she knows to her mate she at pleasure can hie And her dear little brood she is teaching to fly. Oh alas I am undone Oh alas I am undone
Each bird and each beast are as blest in degree All nature is cheerful and happy but me. I will go to my tent and lie down in despair. I will paint me with black and I’ll sever my hair. Oh alas I am undone Oh alas I am undone
I will sit on the shore where the hurricane blows And reveal to the God of the tempest my woes. I will weep for a season on bitterness fed, For my kindred have gone to the hills of the dead… Oh alas I am undone Oh alas I am undone
They died not by hunger or lingering decay The steel of the white man hath swept them away. The snakeskin that once I so sacredly bore I will toss with disdain to the storm beaten shore… Oh alas I am undone Oh alas I am undone
They came to my cabin was heaven was black. I heard not their coming and I knew not their track. But I saw by the light of their blazing fusees They were people engendered beyond the big seas… Oh alas I am undone Oh alas I am undone
I will dig up my hatchet and bend my oak bow. By night and by day I will follow the foe No lake shall impede me nor mountains nor snow. Ah their blood can alone give my spirit repose. Oh alas I am undone Oh alas I am undone
My wife and my children! Oh spare me the tale. For who is there now that is kin to Gehale? My wife and my children! Oh spare me the tale, For who is there now that is kin to Gehale? Oh alas I am undone Oh alas I am undone
