The Europeans

The Europeans
© 1996 by Pete Frega

From England's shores in the dark days of April,
the rebel hearts of a thousand prevailed.
On ships a-ladened, on tides strong and fateful,
against the face of the north wind they sailed.

The New World met them with a cruel savage beauty.
They laid their young in her white winter snow.
With fear of God and the courage of women,
across a prairie of silence they rode.

Hey! They've been working in the Hiya Hiya...
they're working on the western trail.

Forever west rode this river of millions;
the iron horse and the telegraph hummed.
From graves of their fathers walked dreams of the children,
to claim the great wide Pacific they'd come.

Hey...they've been working in the Hiya Hiya.
The Europeans. The Europeans have come -
they're working on the western trail.

History judges but no one stands blameless.
The fiddler plays it, but fate calls the tune.
Their story dances down the century shameless,
from Plymouth Bay to the cliffs of the moon.