Spring, 1862 Dear Daughter.
Spring, 1862
Dear Daughter,
You asked in your last letter what it feels like to be
free so I
send you cape jasmine blossoms and the story of how
I found them.
At the end, though at the time I did not know it was
the end,
of my own tribulations, crossing over, out of the
mouth of slavery, on a fugitive ship, I met a kindred
spirit--cold, bedraggled, thin of body as would be
one so long in running and deprivation.
Together, below deck, on that samaritan sloop stealing
us both
into the night, we talked. She was also from our
town--believe me, these were not easy confidences
then when a slip of the tongue
Could mean death--and she was now traveling by
my very name. She called herself Harriet Jacobs, like
a talisman, because she said she knew that "Harriet,"
so long gone, must surely be free.
We were an odd pair--two dark women dressed as
men rank with the sweat of fear and every lonely
night it takes to get to that place where you say your
own name is the one you have taken.
And she had taken mine. I'd been hiding for seven
years, below a false floor, watching the world from a
hole in the wall, barely able to stand at on my own
feet, never
Going back but scared, scared girl, to go forward until
that moon
light pushed me into a sailor's arms, and on to water
daughter, on to water, that washed away their shame
where I lay this body
Down and I met that fugitive woman who rocked me
like the waves.
Some say it's Canada, some say it's across the Mason
Dixon line, and some say it's any place north of
where you left, but for me
She was the place called freedom. Arm in arm we climbed
from our berth, strangers, namesakes, stumbling into light
and the heady perfume of a seasons bloom.
They told us it was cape jasmine. I enclose some.
With All My Love.
Your Mother
Harriet Ann Jacobs
1813-1897.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861).
Gale Jackson Jackson. 1 City (1990 pop. 37,446), seat of Jackson co., S Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1857. It is an industrial and commercial center in a farm region. is a poet, librarian (1) A person who works in the data library and keeps track of the tapes and disks that are stored and logged out for use. Also known as a "file librarian" or "media librarian." See data library. (2) See CA-Librarian. , and cultural historian who received an NEH NEH abbr. National Endowment for the Humanities for her work in Griot griot African tribal storyteller. The griot's role was to preserve the genealogies and oral traditions of the tribe. Griots were usually among the oldest men. In places where written language is the prerogative of the few, the place of the griot as cultural guardian is still tradition. Her publications include the books Bridge Suite and Khoisan Khoisan: see African languages. Tale (Storm Imprints, 1998). Her epic poem Noun 1. epic poem - a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds epic, heroic poem, epos poem, verse form - a composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines chanson de geste - Old French epic poems "Medea" and her collection Suites for Mozambique Mozambique, city, Mozambique Mozambique, city: see Moçambique. Mozambique, country, Africa Mozambique (mō'zəmbēk`), officially Republic of Mozambique, republic (2005 est. pop. are forthcoming in Spring 2005. She serves on the faculty of Goddard College Goddard College is a private college located in Plainfield, Vermont, that grants bachelor's (BA and BFA) and master's (MA and MFA) degrees. It uses a self-directed, mentored system of intensive residencies in Plainfield or Port Townsend, Washington. and as storyteller-in-residence at The Hayground School. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion