By decree we stole their birthright.
Little heathens in our christian eyes.
We had to make them white, from the inside.
So we plucked them from their mothers' arms
and farmed them off to christian homes,
and fearsome christian institutions.

Negating sixty thousand years of nurturing
with the stroke of a pen, our benevolence
profoundly misplaced, we dressed the girls
like mammy dolls, the boys in sailor suits.
We taught them of a Jesus Christ, and
wondered why they couldn't understand.

Forgive us our trespasses
and our christian pride.
We-were-wrong!
Money can't compensate
and words sound shallow.
In reconciliation I offer my hand.

jerry hughes

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-the-stolen-generations/