Found Poem: Things I Wish I Never Knew

Slaves are recognized as property,
Must bear all things and resist nothing.
I would look at the birds as they flew,
Think it strange that the poor negro only was held in bondage.



There was the fear that I might be sold away.
My friends were not numerous, but they were dear.
Thought that I might be separated from them,
Like having the heart torn from its socket.



To know that I was never to consult my own will,
To be entirely under the control of another,
All things made me feel that I was a slave.
It preyed upon my heart like a never-dying worm.



There were poor white lads,
Belonging to families scattered around.
They did not have to be controlled by a master.
Why this difference?



I was the equal of these poor whites.
We were greatly wronged.
This talk about honesty was
All gammon.



I knew myself to be a slave.
I knew many other things before I knew that.
For a time there was nothing to disturb me.
As I grew larger I learned.



These were distressing revelations.
It was intolerable, haunted me.
I dreaded the thought, always with fear.
This among the heaviest of my childhood’s sorrows.



The degradation, the wrongs
That grow out of slavery,
More than I can describe
Greater than you would willingly believe.



 

 

This poem is about: 
Our world

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