The Wheat Pool
Peniel, SK
You sent your wife and kids across the river
With all you owned
You stood and watched them fade in to the darkness
All alone
You wrestled with a man until the sun arose
He tore at your hip he broke your bones
And as he showed you his face he begged
“Let me go”
Oh Israel
You stole your brother’s throne
At Peniel you laid your head upon a stone
You were born on the banks of Red River
I’ve seen your home
Now you sleep downstream
Among St Boniface stones
You wrestled with the country ‘til the army rose
And as you hid in that church was it Jesus who spoke?
And did he call you by name saying,
“David, It’s time to go”?
’“Cuz there’s blood on the altar
A bullet in your shoulder
There’s blood in the wine
Can we talk this thing over?
There’s four hundred men coming
with your brother”
Louis Riel at the right hand of God’s throne
At Peniel by the river
All alone
