38 Nooses
©Dan Sullivan 2014
38 Nooses swinging in the wind
The hangman checks his watch again
A few clouds drifting across the sky
And 38 Dakotas waiting to die
Soldiers torn by lead and steel
Ghosts departing the battlefield
Into the smoke they disappear
Just as if they were never here
Husbands, wives, sons and daughters
Some were spared and some were slaughtered
The news spread like a prarie fire
Riding east on the telegraph wire
The thunder dies and all is still
Except for the creaking of the wheels
As ambulance wagons carry away
Ten thousand dead Blue and Grey
Justice mixed in the blood of revenge
Weighed on the scale against the dead
The prarieland is vast and cold
No one knows the secrets it holds
Can you feel that December wind
It’s grey as shame and cold as sin
From the Land of Lakes the cold wind blows
All the way to Cashtown Road
38 Nooses swinging in the wind
The hangman checks his watch again
In the distance a coyote calls
And suddenly the trap doors fall
