The New World | Teen Ink

The New World

April 20, 2013
By EmileeBlu SILVER, Easley, South Carolina
EmileeBlu SILVER, Easley, South Carolina
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

This land was their home
These trees were their shelter
Those are the fields they would roam
Before we took them forever

Some were afraid
For they were not fooled
Though others gave us their aid
And taught us their rules

We should be ashamed
Of what we had done
They said “This land cannot be claimed.
It is here for everyone.”

Though we didn't agree
And took to our weapons
Too consumed with greed
To learn from their lessons

We infested this region
Devoured these forests
Disoriented the seasons
As the sky grew porous

From the suffocating exhaust
Of our wheezing industrial engines
Staining the winter's frost
In the midst of our inventions

The rivers were poisoned
As our power in superiority grew
And soon the world was thrown into torsion
When word of war came through

Yet again they rose to join us
Despite the harsh past
And lent us their trust
To protect the land that we trashed

Though it may be crowded with filth
Beauty still resides
As we recognize our guilt
In our nation's pride

On grounds that escaped our crimes
Our ancestors' heritage unfurls
As they commemorate the time
Before the New World


The author's comments:
I have a lot of Cherokee in my family and always found it sad how the colonists treated the Native Americans. Sometimes, when venturing a deep forest or relaxing by a peaceful river, it is likely to wonder what North America would be like if it was never discovered. Would the Native Americans still live as they did hundreds of years ago? Or was the discovery of America for the better, regardless of how we treated those who helped us survive the "New World" that had always been their home?

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