Please take no offense ...


Voices

So much time has lapsed ... but though my skin, as ice, is cold I can remember time so long ago ... when we were young girls slaving our fingers to the bone ... Where, though upon our brown skin the sun's light brightly shone ... In our hearts lay oppressive gloom ... for the chill of shadow is all our spirits had ever known.

We were but children carrying the burden of men ... staining snow white cotton with our tiny bloodied hands ... forced to endure more than one heart should ever withstand ... One by one, we built our land for others to rule while within my belly lay Mastah's sin ...
They say I was born a bastard to this world ... my pale skin making me impossible to comprehend... too black to come through the front door too white to really consider kin ... everyday in vain I sobbed, not knowing for me Fate had a plan ...

Mama sent me to school to find out what she had not been allowed ... with the crack of a switch I learned
" ...Girl! There a'int no time for foolish fun just now!"
... Always tending the animals before the rise of the sun; long after the witching hour would my work finally be done ...
...
The world is changed, but not enough for them ... both are men of peace, with steely hearts, human equality their main stance.
One has a mighty dream for his children and theirs to get a fighting chance ... the other made peaceful segregation his raucous chant...
Both were felled under ambitions of evil men ...bullets ripped through their flesh, each in his prime, not near ready to rest ... Still, unjustly eternal sleep came with little solace ... today, their legacy survives even in death the spirit of man they dare test ...
...
My mother's mother and hers have long since gone ... with them the knowledge of where my journey began. I oft times wonder what they would think of me on this ground that I stand ... I have my life, it belongs to no man, I hold my head high to scream my name that all may know the might of my clan ... never again will I be known as 'girl', 'nigger', 'mammy'... you will see me, and know me for who I am ... A daughter, a lover, a wife, a friend ...
You will know me, generations past and generations to come a strong Black Woman

JJ








Poetry by Jessica j.
Read 548 times
Written on 2007-01-24 at 20:07

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this text gave me thrills inside myself...great writing...i'm totally in awe...
BRAVO!!!
Lilly xxx
2007-01-24