in honour of black history month

​I am a house slave born Akiwa
renamed Sara
I have birthed two of my slave owners children 
My fairer skin 
and features 
Made me appealing to him
And I had no choice but to give myself 
for my own safety
My children have even fairer skin
They look more like him
Than me 
So they don't know I'm Their mother 
or their beautiful history 
His wife could not bear children
so mine became hers
And it breaks my heart 
watching them grow
Knowing the things they could never know
But I watch them as they learn to read 
and do as the owner does
And I kept silent out of a mother's love
Knowing nothing good could come from the truth
They treat me as a slave
sometimes even with unkind words
Even though from me they came
But for their sake I speak no words
So that their freedom will always remain
without knowing a slaves pain
-Author unknown
The author of this poem is unknown, but it could just as well have been written by a slave in the USA or the caribbean.  For some interesting information about the relationship between the masters and their slaves, there is an interesting article at this URL in which one can see the relationships revealed  in the last will and testament of the slave master. 

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