His clan had been warriors and he once was too

Had a faded old pic of himself on the wall

Smiling so big in his fancy dress blues.

In the picture he stood proud and tall

So long ago but still fresh in his mind

Those days when he went off to war

And over the years he had searched hard to find

Exactly just what it was for

Life in the Nation could be hard at times

No banners unfurled to the wind

Up to his house on the mesa he climbs

No neighbors, few family, few friends

He’s a mostly Traditional man nowadays

He keeps up the customs of his fathers gone by

Sometimes torn between new and old ways

As he looks to the Navajo sky

He remembers the roar of the old Higgins boats

And his good friends who just called him Chief

He’s still got some old letters home that he wrote

As the war went on, they became brief

In the wind on the mesa he sometimes still hears

The cries of the wounded and shriek of the shells

And how as a young man he cowered in fear

As they all did in that far off hell

He remembers the flag that was raised on that day

You could see it from down on the beach

What his thoughts were he just couldn’t say

He feared home was just too far to reach

And now he’s an old man who lives all alone

A warrior once, so long ago

Proud of his people and proud of his home

When his spirit is gone we won’t know

But his bloodline goes back to where life began

And will go on until the world’s end

You will still feel his spirit if you walk on his land

In the sun on that warm mesa wind

Code Talker