Darn Horses! ! ! Poem by Marie WardAlonge

Grandmother asked us to go to the store quick.
She needed her daily fix.
She wanted her L&M cigarettes.

Off to the store, we walk.
There were plenty of laughter and talk.
Out of nowhere, they appear.
Two men and a woman were coming near.

On black horses, they straddled.
They seemed to be comfortable in their saddles.
Closer to us, their horses did gallop-we were amuse.
As they came too close for comfort,
We became nervous and confused.

Coming right at us with great haste,
We knew we had no time to waste.
An easy stroll has now started a chase.

Our fear came through.
We didn't know what they would do.
Off running we went.
We had no time to neither complain nor vent.

They seemed to get their kicks in seeing us running.
The whole scene was surreal and quite stunning.
Faster, the horses travelled.
We ran so hard our clothes became unraveled.

As we were trying to seek shelter,
Laughing is what I heard.
I was frighten and disturbed.
As fear took place,
Imagining these words, my mind began to race:

"Run Black girls run!
Until you fall in this hot scorching sun.
Then we shall take our burly beast
And stomp on you until you are deceased.
Run Black girls run!
We are having too much fun."

We kept running and tried not to look back.
Our goal was to make it to that country store shack.
For a few seconds, I thought let us stand our ground.
To pick up some rocks and give each a second crown.
It became obvious, this concept was not sound.

Tired and out of breath, we tried to hide out of sight.
They were determined as they found us to cause us more fright.
I was with one of my aunts and her friend.
We thought this nightmare would never end.

Finally, we made it to the store.
As we were catching our breath,
We took a few moments to peep out of the door.
Those horrible people and their horses were gone.
We were fearful of starting our journey home.

The cigarettes and other items, my aunt did buy.
We had to walk again and I wanted to cry.
We were nervous as we walked our way.
We remembered it started as a bright and joyful day.
Our quest was to get home soon.
We barely spoke any words.
This incident had changed our mood.

With cigarettes in hand,
We gave my grandmother-she awaited.
When she took her smoke she was quite elated.
If only she knew the scare we had.
I don't know what she would have done
But she would have been extremely mad.
The drama we shared-we were three.
In that place, some people thought strange fruits still grew on trees.

The cigarettes, my grandmother did give up.
She had smoked for many years.
Quitting must have been tough.
As for this story, it still causes me distress.
It's the day those darn horses would not allow us to rest.