Cherokee Rose - A poem by Marc McCord

Cherokee Rose

A poem by Marc  McCord

Seven petals for seven tribes
growing on the trail where they cried.
Center of gold for the land white men stole.
Four thousand of my ancestors died.

The trail was long, the journey harsh
crossing a thousand miles of mountain and marsh
and in the place where proud people those
cried the tears that watered Cherokee Rose.

Oh Spirit Wolf, oh Spirit Owl
hear the winter winds that howl.
Oh Spirit Eagle, oh Spirit Deer
why did so many have to die here?

One nation prospered, one nation fell.
One went to heaven, one was sent to hell.
Cherokee Rose that blooms in spring
reminds us of the songs they sing.

White petals, a sign of those tears
that still wet the ground after a hundred fifty years
remind us all of what was lost
from proud people who bore the ultimate cost.

Seven petals for seven tribes
growing on the trail where they cried.
Center of gold for the land white men stole.
Four thousand of my ancestors died.

"The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the blood of our ancestors." This was said by the Chief of Plenty Coups, from the tribe- Crow. Though this wasn’t from the Cherokee tribe, it was a feeling shared by all the tribes who were tortured by the “white man”.

Native Americans were oppressed right from the time that they were discovered by Columbus. Bearing in mind that Native Americans were strict practioners of maintaining peace and harmony makes their tales of oppression reach the depths of despair. 1838 saw the worst of all tragic events that Native Americans had gone through- the trail of tears.  Since the white man looked at the tribes, especially the five civilised tribes, as a threat towards their rule, they forced the Natives off their homelands to far away reservations. The federal government forced them to march up to eight hundred miles from their homelands to the "Indian Territory", today known as Oklahoma. This anguishing march was termed as the trail of tears.

In order to do justice to this poem it becomes crucial to know the legend of the Cherokee Rose. When the Trail of Tears began the mothers in the Cherokee tribe were lamenting and crying so much that they were unable to help their own children survive this journey. Seeing this elders of the tribe prayed for any sign that would uplift the mother’s spirits and provide them with strength. They say that the next day beautiful rose began to grow at every spot that a tear fell from the mothers. The rose was white for their tears and had a gold center which represented all the gold taken from their Cherokee lands. There were also seven leaves on each and every stem for all the seven Cherokee clans. Even today we can see the wild Cherokee Rose grow on the route of the Trail of Tears into eastern Oklahoma.

The poet Marc McCord himself has a lineage of Native Texan of Scottish, Eastern Band Cherokee and Lipan Apache. He has said that he is proud of his ancestry. Even though he wrote this poem a long, long time after the actual event, it captures the soul of a Cherokee in the march.

The literature of Native Americans has majorly been oral, through prayers and poems. They did have very written and documented shreds of literature but the proper structure of writing took place only later on. The poem very directly talks about the devastation of the tribes who were chased away from their very own land.  The first two stanzas talk about the legend of the Cherokee legend and how the white man plundered the wealth of the tribes. The poem then slowly moves towards invoking all the natural spirits that the tribes believed in. The poem is written in the present and is remembering the sacrifices and fights of the Cherokees. Though through a post colonial analysis we can point out how this poem wasn’t written in the tribal language and instead in English, we must realise the difficulties it would take to learn and authentically incorporate it after so many decades. Nu na hi du na tlo hi hu I (the tribal language) this is the cry of the trail of tears. The existence of these flowers even today marks the importance of the tradition and cultural beliefs of the Native Americans till date. It is looked at with reverence and keeps the spirit alive. It is a constant reminder of how the people were oppressed as well as suppressed. Though the colonial rule of the white man slowly eroded, it still prevails widely. We can see that even today they suffer from milder forms of colonialism and they still have to fight for their survival. They are forced to behave in accordance to the counter population and that’s how their individual identity has been fading.

Time has passed but this legend remains to stay in the minds of even the new and younger generations and this poem is evidence of such a culture and tradition.