She Goes Back

She Goes Back By Lillian J. Jeffrey Whispers flow like a river she will be sold sold or rented like a cash crop Born on a Maryland plantation her mother works the big house Harriet runs barefoot in the woods side by side her brothers, nursemaids her younger brother, childhood ends at five She is rented, sleeps on a cold, cold floor shares food scraps with dogs wounds yarn slow they say checks muskrat traps in marshes barefoot in icy waters she looks Her lungs fill, fill with fluid, her body burns she is sent back coughing, coughing, holds on fights off bronchitis and measles her mother helps nurse her back Rented to take care of a baby, clean house the baby cries, she’s whipped, whipped, she runs runs like the wind, tumbles into a pig pen pig fights for potato peels Her stomach empty, rumbles, she returns to her mistress, the whippings set her back on fire, she is sent back. Rented, rented to load lumber hears Nat Turner led a revolt losses fighting for freedom rebellions spark hope in her heart whispers spread she will be sold Her master dies, the new master rents her to a local builder the builder permits her to rent herself she makes money, saves, saves, runs, runs bends with the wind. Empty of fear, full of dreams of freedom doors open, slips of paper lead her way through the Underground Railroad, a network of shifting safe houses Her heart skips a beat, beads of sweat roll, roll down her cheeks she crosses, crosses the Mason-Dixon Line. Free at last, lonely, life stands still like a still life of shells and bones she is cut off, she longs, longs for her family The sounds of rattling chains, cracking whips, echo in her ears, she hears her mother’s cry, hears her mother's cry, she goes back, helps her family, friends escape, escape on foot, through cemeteries, swamps, around hills, she never losses a passenger. A will as strong as a rock a will to endure, persevere a will to help others nineteen times she goes back Shoes worn, spirits strong more than three hundred slaves escape Harriet Tubman is nicknamed “Moses” for her fearless bravery, thump, thump, thump bounty hunters on her trail.