There Was Such a Glory: A Harriet Tubman Triptych

By DeMisty D. Bellinger


I: There Was Such a Glory
 
Over everything, the world look gold-gilded
            these Northern trees with their shimmering leaves
            this river full of mud running loudly in praise
            my fingers and fingernails, though scruffed and
                        scratched and filled with dirt
            the grasses growing glowed when the wind blew
            these field flowers that I did not know (I knelt and smelt
                        them; I shuddered but did not sob)
 
It was the sun that shone, sure, but it was that I could see how
            the sun shone, what the light hit and what hid from it
            I could feel warmth, and a breeze, and concentrate on that
            I could not look over my shoulder and, my Lord, I could
            sit on the grass, for a minute, for minutes, and longer.