"Cara Mingo was 'a man groping for sanity.' "
Paul King, scriptwriter of "My Brother's Keeper"
episode from Season One Daniel Boone TV Series
"No Other Road For Me"
Cara Mingo's Account
I am my brother's keeper, no other road for me.
Your sins were my shame, your death my path to see.
A face from the grave, a memory from the past.
Like features shared between us, dead, but you came back.
I was my mother's son, her Cherokee blood was mine.
My father an Englishman, and I, a half-breed by design.
You were my older brother, no love lost between.
You hated my white blood, you hated more my dreams.
To her, earth was beauty. To her, wind was free.
To her, love was sacred, and life was family.
But you spat at her caring . It was always you, not we.
You hated all she gave, but most of all you hated me.
My gentle nature was hers. It went against your grain.
I sought to live in peace. You sought to inflict pain.
Your soul, her constant prayer, no sorrow did you feel.
You scoffed at her passing, with a heart as cold as steel.
A song in the wind, the blue of the sky,
Her spirit soars among the stars. Too soon for her to die.
I was still a boy, a mother's love now gone.
You laughed at my tears, and scorned her death song.
Deep sadness overwhelmed me, I was empty when she died.
She called for her two sons, only one came to her side.
A wish at her deathbed, a consent on my lips.
To leave my promised land and sail away on a tall ship.
To go with my Father, this was her last request.
So not to die in battle, but to live with England's best.
A boy, not yet a man, still a Cherokee inside.
He took me from my people, her heritage denied.
But in my blood it burned, my heart, my Cherokee pride.
I returned as a man, and left England far behind.
A boy's gentle nature, grew into a warrior's truth.
In battle I will fight you, and erase the mask of youth.
So I come for you, my brother,
To dig a second grave.
And bury your heart of evil,
that fed a soul too late to save.
Your darkness never faltered, while I was far away.
Exiled from Cherokee fires, I shot you on that day.
Brother against brother, no victory, no defeat.
Our blood, only for bleeding, I listened, but no heartbeat.
I buried you my brother, put you in a shallow grave.
On the banks of the Ken-tah-teh, and for your spirit, I prayed.
As I sang your song of passing, you sang your song of war.
You battled the darkness to feel the sun once more.
And you lived, my brother, fought death to see me die.
To bury deep my honor, in the black mud of the Ken-tah-teh.
You murdered my people, the white man said it was me.
This face we were cursed to share, was what you let them see.
So I come for you, my brother.
To dig a second grave.
And bury your heart of evil,
that fed a soul too late to save.
A ghost who pulled the trigger, you wore vengeance as a shroud.
And for me, not just death, but to dig my grave, you vowed.
To find an empty tomb, and a man three years dead.
Finally standing face to face, I heard these words you said.
"You pulled the trigger once, you will not pull it again.
Hide in the black mud of your honor. Run my brother, run!
Or stay and face me, here and now. You win, you are free to go."
Your word was like your honor. I fell to your unseen blow.
I woke to face your wrath. You tied me to a tree.
I heard your laughter echo as you whipped the life from me.
Spread eagle. Left to die. My body racked with pain.
I felt the life drain from me. It was done, all but the grave.
My friend in buckskins found me, saved me from the dead.
"Answers, Mingo," he asked me. "A ghost, my brother." I said.
"A man with no loyalty. Honor, just a word.
Murder is his handshake. Bloodshed is his curse."
The white man I call brother, I told him of my sin.
"I shot my brother, Daniel. I could not do it again."
Your whip upon my back, was to be my fate.
I am my mother's son, I just couldn't hate.
Whip to whip you battled, while I lay in pain.
He defended my honor. You defended your name.
But it was not for him to do. This was a brothers' fight.
You had him in your grasp. I had you in my sights.
A shot from my rifle, coursing through my frame.
This time death was final and you fell like the rain.
Your body lay below us. I told Daniel at my side.
"I am my brother's keeper." but I could hear our mother crying.
You deserved not her devotion, yet she cherished you like me.
Forever is a mother's love, her son you will always be.
No other road before me. It cuts like a knife.
A wound that will never heal, to have taken my brother's life.
So I came for you, my brother.
And I dug a second grave.
I buried your heart of evil,
that fed a soul too late to save.
