Silent Tears Written word and spoken word Tell a Tale to make you weep Of a people crushed by Time The Nation of the Cherokee. Moonbeams fell on raven hair And face raised to the sky Of a maid too young to know fear Saying a last goodbye.. "Goodbye my friend the Raven.. Goodbye trickling River Tennessee, Goodbye to the mighty eagle And our forested mountain peeks" Gone were the baskets that she wove The crops had wilted long ago Leaving all behind for the trip to this new land.. Soon would fly the first winter snow. Yunateka, the child, left her home In 1838 on a grey autumn morn And walking the Trail of Tears, Yunateka, the woman was born. She saw them fall around her, Tho cold and hunger raged inside, She would not be beaten, Her strong Spirit was her guide. During the march in the days ahead Wails reached her ears Of sick and dying loved ones and friends. Yunateka's spirit cried Silent Tears. She would tell a story To be passed down through the years Of her journey west to Oklahoma And how she survived the Trail of Tears. Or as The Cherokee call it In stories told with pride, "Nunna daul Tsuny" *The Trail Where They Cried* Many moons have passed since then, But in our hearts we still hear In the strains of songs like this Yunateka's Silent Tears..