Source: wikipedia, creative commons
The Cotton Road
Teak feet walk the road
in the thin light of dawn.
Red clay between leathery toes,
blistered, cracked and worn.
We sing a song shuffling along
the bone-worn beaten path,
while whips urge the lame and sick
with a harsh crackling snap.
We pass desiccated crowns
of Maple, Poplar and Pine,
marching on to cotton field -
a fertile blood-fed shrine.
My hoe strikes the rocky ground
as pickers snick the cotton,
on we toil, on we toil -
weary, hopeless and forgotten.
I be so glad when the sun goes down
I be so glad when the sun goes down
I ain't all that sleepy but I wanna lie down
I ain't all that sleepy but I wanna lie down
I wanna lie down, I wanna lie down
I re-worked this poem inspired by something I wrote over 10 years ago centered around the broad theme of slavery. I researched this subject for my university poetry portfolio in 2006 and spent a month in america travelling in the deep south, before visiting family in North Carolina. I penned over 200 poems on that trip while visiting various sites including an old slave plantation. I wrote the first draft of this poem sat in one of the cotton fields at that place.
Slavery is a subject that beggars belief, especially when you get deep into researching the specifics of the intense cruelty and inhumanity that happened. I spent some time reviewing many of the poems I wrote on that trip, and realized that some speak to the inhumanity of slavery in a powerful way. I will be sharing a selection of them on hive over the next few months. I feel that it is important to remember these types of things, to revisit them and understand them so that the lessons of history are truly learned.
As Martin Luther King said:
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter!"
The end section in the poem highlighted in red 'code text' are not my own words, rather quoted from an old slave song that the plantation workers used to sing called I Be So Glad When The Sun Goes Down. I included this as an ending referancing the song the character in my poem mentions they're singing as they walk down the cotton road to the day's toil.
Please see the YouTube recording of this song below.
The picture used is creative commons licence, credited beneath the image. The music used in the reading is also public domain (free to use) Produced, Written and Performed by Shock of Daylight. If you have enjoyed this poem, you can check out my homepage 
Thanks for reading/listening.
Click banner to visit the community page
Find us on twitter by clicking the banner above.
Interested in trading, buying or selling crypto?
Sign up to Bittrex here.
Sign up to Coinbase here.
Sign up to Swissborg app to instantly buy crypto here.
Use my referral link to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD.
If You Have Found Value From this Post and Want to tip extra, Crypto Donations Are Welcomed:
►Donate Ether and ERC20 Tokens: 0x32321615174AF3Da6074Cf79DED8269cA7a8eB24
►Donate Bitcoin: bc1q8wutj8u6ush7s8mucphfxf7gzrexeywmuqm8g3
►Donate Bitcoin Cash: qzt7c0czw0q988h93jvcz2rq5gy0s3h9pg2pk700ev
►Donate Litecoin: Lfsnz3pbT5V9N6WWGRaBsgKs9EvFeqzcPm
►Donate BNB: bnb1xeu94exteel9w3g8g44e6g595kvrqlgzm0crq4
►Donate Monero: 49PovXGcM9Y7JYeRJ35W9xZGrdivvLaMbVtGc3WDv6amCm5wqA854SvJNWxaEqjTz18K5YVPj5D6619C3bvNHsrG7oD1whb
►Donate Tezos: tz1SJUkpeznKE6bEhbX81YFdUQS5BprA4ot8
►Donate XRP: r35quYTThThN7yNvkJxyhLFAPyju3tsT35