Destroyed – A slave’s story.
I was caught, put in a cage,
Taken away from my peaceful life,
My chains and my shackles,
Are just symbols of my strife.
White men spoke, what Are they saying?
I cannot understand.
But even though I could not comprehend,
I knew that I was damned.
Chucked on a ship, Manhandled I was,
They really did not care.
For we were just cattle to them,
And did not compare.
I could hear the screams, the cries,
Of people from my tribe.
You might have thought this comforting,
But the pain, I could not describe.
I was lucky, put on a top shelf.
No weight above me.
But I crushed them below me,
And to the one on the bottom, it was deadly.
Six weeks it was, that I was stuck in this hell.
Six weeks that I starved,
I talked to the few who knew my language,
But the number was halved.
When we docked, I knew it would get worse,
When they wrestled me off the boat,
I was put in a cell with men, women, children.
And a smelly goat.
An hour later I was pulled out, and lined up with others.
Then one of us at a time left to be sold.
I couldn’t hear the prices fetched,
But I knew it would be no gold.
When it was my turn, I put up a fight,
But it was no use.
They starved me half to death, they did,
So the shackles could have been loose.
I was shown in front of the crowd,
My teeth checked, my body examined.
Then, the auction started,
And I was forcefully orphaned.
I heard that I fetched a good price, but I didn’t care,
Some woman with a strict face and a whip,
Guided me to her coach,
As soon as look at her, I knew there’d be no friendship.
When put to work, it was too hard,
But failure meant torture.
For weeks and weeks I worked non-stop,
And wished for an early departure.
But then one day, I could not take it.
I found a knife, stabbed my mistress,
Once, twice, thrice
And was not awarded for my boldness.
Her son had seen what I’d done,
And grabbed that wretched dagger.
He cut me open right there and then,
And I fell without a stagger.
And so, you see, what was done was wrong,
Although that seems obvious.
But let us just hope and pray,
That we can all go woundless.
[Written by boblionia. Historically correct.]
