Nile River Woman
(a Dinka slave of the Sudan)

My feet were bound by eel-skin and river
stones,

My nose and throat were so caked with blood,
I could hardly breathe.
The sun beat my face.
Nothing but hate was in my heart.

You came into the world anyway.

I split open and you came.
For that time, I had to stop running.
In the trees near an artery

—of blue shallow water,
I had to learn your heartbeat and breathe
inside of you and make human sound.
Against my fur-hole I warmed you
and from my breasts I fed you.

I didn’t mind after a while that you had come,
but I thought about killing you.

I thought about clearing a path—to run.