A Slave’s Soliloquy on Emancipation

 

 

Freedom to climb out

But no means to do so,

The physical shackles were removed

But in effect still showed.

 

The mental anguish was as obvious

As it was before,

Freedom to leave

If only I could unlock the door.

 

It’s liked the flogged child

That clings to its mother’s apron,

Though its source of pain,

There is no way to run.

 

It’s like a bird pushed from its nest

But unable to fly,

Whether I go or not

I am sentenced to die.

 

 

No longer a slave

But I work for nothing,

I can withhold my labour, if I like,

But I’ll end up dying.

 

No laws to support me

Though I’ve been set free,

Free to work for the Massa

If he will still have me.

 

I had worked for him

From morning till night,

I was like his jackass or mule

Without a right.

 

Now I have one right

But nothing has changed,

Since I’ve been emancipated

He is still my bane.

 

 

Massa has been paid

To set me free,

A pseudo-emancipation,

Not a cent for me.

 

After the declaration

I began to run,

What exciting news!

“Slavery is done!”

 

But I stopped to rest

And to think a little

And realized nothing had changed,

Not one jot or tittle.

 

Before, I was forced

To comply to his voice,

Now I could say yes or no

Though I had no choice.

 

Emancipation?

What emancipation?

My existence is still only possible

On Massa’s plantation.

 

 

So, I tuned right around

And started to head back,

Emancipation was just a word

For a different kind of trap.

 

Trapped on the plantation

Though not as a slave

But still at the mercies of Massa,

That merciless knave.

 

Hoping he would take me back

I have nowhere to go,

No longer a slave

But still the lowest of the low.

 

Emancipation, as I see it

Was a well thought out trick, 

The fact that Massa was paid…

Man, that was slick!

 

 

Money I should have received

For my back now bent,

All goes to the Massa

As for me?  Not one cent.

  

And on the back of it

To Massa I must return,

Emancipation, I tell you,

Is a hard lesson to learn.

 

I am a slave

Though I have been set free,

Emancipation has been declared

But it’s not my reality.

 

Freedom to climb out

But no means to do so,

The Massa and the plantation…

That is all I know.

 

A Slave’s Soliloquy

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020