By decree we stole their birthright. <br />Little heathens in our christian eyes. <br />We had to make them white, from the inside. <br />So we plucked them from their mothers' arms <br />and farmed them off to christian homes, <br />and fearsome christian institutions. <br /> <br />Negating sixty thousand years of nurturing <br />with the stroke of a pen, our benevolence <br />profoundly misplaced, we dressed the girls <br />like mammy dolls, the boys in sailor suits. <br />We taught them of a Jesus Christ, and <br />wondered why they couldn't understand. <br /> <br />Forgive us our trespasses <br />and our christian pride. <br />We-were-wrong! <br />Money can't compensate <br />and words sound shallow. <br />In reconciliation I offer my hand.<br /><br />jerry hughes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-the-stolen-generations/
