Donna's Poems
The Ballad of Yahoo Falls
by Mark A Abner

It was the year of 1810
The August leaves were green
At a sacred place we call Ah hoo
There falls a sparkling stream

It was a sanctuary place
It’s water clear and cool
There gathered children to stay safe
Until they journeyed south to school

But on that August Friday night
A horrid fate would fall
Before the bright new sun would rise
Their lives would flee them all

One hundred children there were held
Their mothers at their sides
When on the front guard white men fell
Filled with hatred greed and pride

When all the front guard they had killed
Scalped red and white alike
The killers Rushed down to the falls
And fell on children in the night

Around the rim surrounded men
That none could make escape
The blood it ran there ankle deep
As they killed and scalped and raped

Some miles away cam Kutsawah
Corn Blossom walked there too
Into a tree where all could see
A mighty raptor flew

Into the bark its beak did strike
And from there blood did stream
And the cry that rang form the hawks own
throat
Was a babies tortured scream

The warriors rushed on to the falls
To see what had befell
They found their children dead and scalped
And on the killers fell

Those Franklinites who stayed behind
Their pleasures to fulfill
Were sent to face their personal hells
No more children would they kill

On the cliffs two days Corn Blossom
mourned
Till her spirit floated free
Her son and husband flown before
“Remember us “ her plea

On August 10th in 1810
A travesty occurred
But in this country’s history
There’s written not a word

Our bones from ancient graves now torn
Are dug and dozed and tossed
With Dynamite without regard
To sacred mysteries lost

But out of dark forgotten years
There springs the peoples voice
To sing again our sacred songs
And make out hearts rejoice

The Cherokee are living still
We walk with you each day
With wisdom’s learned and gifts to share
If you would learn our ways

Respect all things upon the earth
And those who came before
Protect the land for those to come
That their spirits too may soar