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I was walking through the National Mall
Thinking about medicinals, how they used to grow there
When the ground was a marshland
Undisturbed by human hands, then I heard their voices
Sumac said (we were always here)
The Witch Hazel (we were always here)
Sassafras (we were always here)
Bluestem grasses (always here)
I looked about, and what did I see?
Medicinals grow around me, rising from the gravel
Sumac and the Witch Hazel
Come to soothe our primal sores, come to soothe our troubles
Sumac said (we were always here)
The Witch Hazel (we were always here)
Sassafras (we were always here)
Bluestem grasses (always here)
But do you see that woman, sitting in the wheelchair?
With her Redskins cap on backwards
What's that she's singing?
As from inside a paper wrapper
She sips from a bottle
A new painkiller
For the native people
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