Wanchese & Manteo

Lightning strikes the ocean's veil
 Turned tempest sea, all free of sails
 Thunderheaded clouds assail the island of Roanoke
 The hurricane and her mighty eye,
 Whirling in the widening gyre
 The old poets words do roll
 Over old Wanchese and Manteo.
 Old Wanchese and Manteo
 Were proud, noble, native souls
 Who bowed to Raleigh as he broke
 the circles of the sun.
 And Raleigh knew he'd found his men
 With fiercest framed and tanned hide skins.
 Brazen tonges of Algonquin
 Held the west yet to be won.
 Manteo, between two world torn,
 Turned his face forward-born
 He traded in the clothes he'd worn
 for brand new English flair
 Raleigh baptized him in sin of Old World Civilisation
 He opened up the gates
 And in rode the future's heedless stare.
 But old Wnachese, no he ain't so sure
 About the promise of the future,
 He threw himself back to the earth
 that he had always known.
 He tucked back into shadows black
 When White's men came, well, he attacked
 He walked backwards and brushed his tracks
 For the earth ain't ours to own.
 One looked forwad, one within
 One sold the ground that kep his kin
 The other shed the blood of men
 Of a future come to fast.
 And those two men live on today
 In the costal towns that bare their names
 And they'll treat you quite the same
 For the future's just the past.
 That town, Manteo, well he'd be pleased
 To wine, and dine, and give you ease
 For a night or four centuries, no,
 Manteo, he don't mind
 But old Wanchese, well, he holds a grudge,
 He'll dash your vessels into dust,
 Sink your house into the mud
 And leave you wondering why.
 Yeah Manteo, such a helpful hand,
 Such a good old boy without a land,
 Was it worth the plaque that stands
 'Our Savage, Manteo'
 While old Wanchese, his soul lays claim
 To the roaring thunder, wind, and rain,
 He's in the eye of that hurricane as it circles Roanoke
 Well, the future may come on too strong.
 Defile the past to right it's wrongs,
 And leave you with a load of songs
 To ease a wearied soul.
 Cause in your soul, as in this great land,
 A battle rages between two men,
 Which one will you feed my friend;
 Old Wanchese or Manteo?