Where the Missouri hills roll down through the timber

And Arkansas rivers carry stories on

There are names the passing years still remember

There are roots that have been holding all along

Through the changes through the silence

Through the years when no one seemed to hear

Western Cherokee kept standing

And the truth is still standing here

We ain't asking for a story made

We're standing on the words already laid

Missouri and Arkansas

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing on the ground

Of every generation

It's already written

It's already there

Cherokee names and history

Still living everywhere

You can turn another page

You can look the other way

But Missouri and Arkansas

Still know our name today

Western Cherokee Nation

We've been here all along

This is more than lines upon a paper

More than signatures somebody chose to see

It's the people holding fast to one another

It's a history carried faithfully

We don't need a brand-new beginning

We don't need a story handed down

We are asking recognition

For the Nation already standing on this ground

Recognition ain't creation

It can't make us what we already are

Missouri and Arkansas

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing on the ground

Of every generation

It's already written

It's already there

Cherokee names and history

Still living everywhere

You can turn another page

You can look the other way

But Missouri and Arkansas

Still know our name today

Western Cherokee Nation

We've been here all along

Missouri knows our footsteps

Arkansas knows our names

These hills have watched us carry on

Through every season every change

We are not another story

We are not a borrowed name

We are Western Cherokee

And we are standing here the same

Missouri

Still here

Arkansas

Still here

Cherokee

Still here

Western Cherokee Nation

Still here

Missouri and Arkansas

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing on the ground

Of every generation

It was already written

It was always there

Through the years and through the struggle

Through the burdens that we bear

Let the truth come to the daylight

Let the old record testify

You can wait on recognition

But you cannot pass us by

Missouri and Arkansas

Let the Cherokee voices rise

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing

Still alive

We've been here all along

Missouri

Arkansas

Western Cherokee Nation

Still Cherokee

Still standing

Still here