On the shores of Gitchgoomy
By the shining big sea water
Hiawatha, old and greying
Listened to the older prophet
Listened to Iagu
And the young men and the women
From the land of Ojibways
From the land of the Dakotas
From the woodlands and the prairies
Stood and listened to the prophet
Heard Iagu tell Hiawatha
I have seen he said a water
Bigger that the big sea water
Broader than the Gitchgoomy
Bitter so that none cold drink it
Salty so that none would use it
Hiawatha then spoke to them
Stopped all their jeering
And their jesting
And he spoke to all the people
It's true what Iagu tells you
For I have seen it in a vision
I have also seen the water
To the east, to the land of morning
And upon this great water
Came a strange canoe with pinions
Bigger than a grove of pine trees
Taller than the tallest tree tops
And upon this great canoe
Were sails to carry it swiftly
And it carried many people
Strange and foreign were these people
And white were all their faces
And with hair their chins were covered
Then said Hiawatha
I beheld a darker vision
Many hundreds came behind them
Pushed their way across our prairies
In our woodlands rang their axes
In our valleys smoked their cities
Our people were all scattered
All forgetful of our councils
Left their homelands going westward
Wild and woeful
And the man with bearded faces
The men with skin so fair
With their barking sticks of thunder
Drove the remnants of our people
Farther westward, westward, westward
Then wild, wild and wilder
Grew the west that once was ours