This page is dedicated to the memory of

I Have Always Kept On Returning, Ever Since The Day I Was Born
Each Time Your Drum And Circle Called, My Soul Was Ripped And Torn
Forever As I Picked Up My Lance, My Quiver, And My Bow
The Eagel Soaring Me On High, Would Swoop Down And Drop Me Low
But It Is MY Duty To Fight, For My People And For My Nation
The Tests And Trials Of War, Are But My Sacred Tribulation
I Am Called Sma'knis

In The Days Of Probes And Invasions, By Some Other Tribes
I Fought Off Our Enemies, So That Peace Would Come Alive
Yet I Was Needed Much Later, In A Time Called 1752
My Promise To Never Surrender, Niskam Made Come True
As My Njiknamk Fought On, Never Even Blinking An Eye
We Won Our Peace And Friendship, But It Was Me Who Had To Die
I Am Called Sma'knis

I Returned In A Generation, With The Echoes Of Your Drumbeat
To March With George Washington, With My Brothers The Malecite
No Retreat - No Surrender, Was Our Promise At Watertown
We Protected America's Freedom, We Never Let Them Down
The Guarantee Of Self-Government, Was What We All Agreed
But I was Killed In Action, So Our People Have The Jay Treaty
I Am Called Sma'knis

I Slept For More Generations, Well Over A Hundred Years
But Came To Live To Return To War, To Fight In Germany
I Slogged In Mud At Verdun, Where I Saw A New Kind Of War
They Called It World War I...But World War II Was Even More
I Went Through Hell In A Place Called Dieppe, To Land At Normandy
I Was There To Liberate Holland...But My Body Was Buried At Sea
I Am Called Sma'knis

As The Communist World Swept Over, From Europe To The Far East
My Reserve Back Home Was What I Missed, I Hungered For Your Feast
High On A Hill In Korea, While Freezing In A Lonely Cold
I Sweated In Deep Desperation, For Our Orders Were "To Hold"
Although Completely Surrounded, We Held Our Position's Goal
Staving Off Human Wave Attacks, But I Was Killed While On Patrol
I Am Called Sma'knis

While As A Youth Still In My Teens, Some Said I Was A Fool
But Boot Camp At Parris Island, Was Nothing To Residential School
I Fought In The Jungles Of Vietnam, And Kept My Mi'kmaq Pride
And Brought Home My People's Honor, Through The Men I Kept Alive
I was There At Con-Tien And Khesanh, In The Battle Of Hue/Phu-Bai
But As I Lay Fatally Wounded, Only Niskam Heard My Cry
I Am Called Sma'knis

Don't Take Your Freedom For Granted, The Trickster Is Always At Work
He'll Take And Keep Not Give And Share, The Circle Would Die From Hurt
I Fought For Rights And Freedom, Not Just Ours But The World's
And Lay Down My Life For My Fellow Man, "No Greater Love" I'm Told
Remember Me Each Summer, At Mission, Pow Wows And Maine
For Niskam Knows If You Forget My Death, Then I Have Died In Vain
I Am Called Sma'knis

Written By Will Basque (S.Sgt. U.S. Marines, Vietnam) In The Spirit Of The Sma'knis Of 1752 And 1776. Without Their Supreme Sacrifice We Would Not Have The Rights or Treaties To Call Ourselves Mi'kmaq, Let Alone A Sante Maowio'mi Wjit Mi'kmaq. ©1992