Читать книгу Voices - Patrice Carolyn Forrester - Страница 7

South Carolina Circa 1867

I

I was reared on Marsden Bluff

As long as I can remember

Worked up at the Big House

Hated it

Mistress always calling

Never resting

Never knew Mama

Sold her off when I was just a little girl

Way down South

Miz Clary said

I used to ask Miz Clary what Mama was like

Miz Clary would smile

Said I looked just like her

Big brown eyes

Wide smile

That made me smile

It made me sad too

II

As I worked in the Big House

I walked by young massa

As he read his book for reading lessons

I saw the words

He wrote down

I liked to hear him read

I began to memorize the words

Practiced writing them in the ground when I was alone

I began to recognize some of the words young massa wrote

As I dusted the books in the study

Young massa and Mistress

Would always say

“Sally sure is dumb”

Laughing

As I cleaned

During lessons

They never saw

I was playing dumb

So I could learn to read

III

Soon as Massa came home from the War

Yankees started following

Told us that we slaves were free