Song Notes

THE INDICTMENT – Where we are now. The first song on the CD lays out where we are now. From the inquisition to the destruction of the forests; from the dismissal of Indigenous spirituality and the attempt to wipe it out; the anthems without harmonies; to the prophets of all cultures who call it what it is – the unethical treatment of others; to atonement and the recognition of the need for reparation. Non-Indigenous people are turning to Indigenous people and asking: “How did you survive what has been done to you? We are now the ones and we need to know how you made it through?” And our response: “Go back to the peace gospels of Jesus and the prophets of the old and new covenant. Get grounded in your God of Love which is the God we believed in all along. We all have a lot of healing to do.

And On The Evidence

A bloody beach, a burning tree, the boats have landed
But the line from the ship to the shore’s in our command now
To the peacemakers, healers, the lovers and dreamers before us,
There words were strong, they carried us on, what do we make of this?

You have smiled as you’ve recounted your great victories
You have sung your many anthems without their harmonies
You have cried to your mother’s mother and still you’d let it be
You would turn on your own sisters to write your histories.

And on the evidence, you’re implicated
And on the evidence, we have paid some price
And on the evidence, you’ve been found guilty
And on the evidence, it is time for reparation.

There’s been a pushing of many souls into oblivion
We have been offered in return an earless Babylon
A textbook heaven we can’t touch for lives cut down in pain
You have bled poison unto hearts you’d piss on anything.

There are faces from the past you cannot wipe away.
It is your peace stolen now by ghosts that lie in wait
For all you took for all who’ve grieved for all your bloody trails
‘Til now your breath like a wicked storm blows itself across the scales.