My father was a carpenter when he could find the work My mother, she made leather bags and shirts We'd sell them at a roadside stand as tourist souvenirs With feathers, beads, tomahawks and spears Business never was too brisk, but we'd stay there all day Just in case some customers came by And as the hours dragged along I'd gaze into the clouds Watching birds and wishing I could fly Like a red tailed hawk I would dance upon the wind I would sail aloft with the spirits of my kin I would glide, loop, and dive as I flew across the land Like a red tailed hawk I would fly through the sky Free again My ancestors were spirits of the water, earth, and air They roamed the fields and mountains everywhere They hunted what they needed and they gathered as they'd go They were not bound by what they did not know The old men used to tell me that our elders knew the ways To change into the other forms of life Well, if I knew their secrets I would leap into the sky Flap my feathered wings and take to flight Like a red tailed hawk I would dance upon the wind I would sail aloft with the spirits of my kin I would glide, loop, and dive as I flew across the land Like a red tailed hawk I would fly through the sky Free again My father was a carpenter when he could find the work My mother she made leather bags and shirts Whatever skills they had they tried to pass along to me But I still seek the magic in my dreams Like a red tailed hawk I will dance upon the wind I will sail aloft with the spirits of my kin I will glide, loop, and dive as I fly across the land Like a red tailed hawk I will fly through the sky Free again