Poem: "Vengeance of Justice"
This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills the "Vengeance" square in my 10-1-22 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. It has been sponsored by a pool with Dreamwidth user Fuzzyred. This poem belongs to the Bear Tunnels series.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes slavery, arson, and justified homicide in self-defense. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"Vengeance of Justice"
[June 19, 1632]
Jesse watched the house burn.
It was a big house, not far from
the palisade, whose owner had
intended to set up something like
a nascent plantation, complete
with dozens of field slaves.
Most of those unfortunates
were fresh from Africa, though,
not bred down generations
selected for servitude -- even
the few born into bondage
came from parents born free.
Loathe to give up their liberty,
they had eagerly listened to
Jesse's ideas for escape.
Arson had not been
part of the original plan,
but then again, no plan
survived its first encounter
with the enemy forces.
Most of the former slaves
had already escaped, and
as Jesse counted, the last few
of them dashed out the door.
In an upstairs window,
a pale face appeared
briefly, hands beating
on the expensive glass,
before the roof caved in.
"Anybody know what
happened in there?"
Jesse wondered.
One soot-covered girl
turned to him with a glare.
"He try me one more time,"
she said grimly. "I had 'nuff."
"Revenge is an act of passion,
but vengeance of justice.
Injuries are revenged;
crimes are avenged,"
Jesse declared.
Noting the date, he
smiled at the irony.
* * *
Notes:
"Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged."
-- Samuel Johnson
Juneteenth, celebrated annually on June 19, is the national commemoration of the ending of slavery in the U.S. Originating in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, it marks the date Union soldiers landed and shared news that enslaved people were now free.
It is important to note that this is more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1, 1863.
The Big House is slang for the residence of slaveowners on a plantation.
Runaway slaves and indentured servants were a persistent problem for landowners in colonial Virginia.
The first recorded slave revolt in the British colonies occurred in September 1663.
Sexual slavery was a common reason for resistance.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes slavery, arson, and justified homicide in self-defense. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"Vengeance of Justice"
[June 19, 1632]
Jesse watched the house burn.
It was a big house, not far from
the palisade, whose owner had
intended to set up something like
a nascent plantation, complete
with dozens of field slaves.
Most of those unfortunates
were fresh from Africa, though,
not bred down generations
selected for servitude -- even
the few born into bondage
came from parents born free.
Loathe to give up their liberty,
they had eagerly listened to
Jesse's ideas for escape.
Arson had not been
part of the original plan,
but then again, no plan
survived its first encounter
with the enemy forces.
Most of the former slaves
had already escaped, and
as Jesse counted, the last few
of them dashed out the door.
In an upstairs window,
a pale face appeared
briefly, hands beating
on the expensive glass,
before the roof caved in.
"Anybody know what
happened in there?"
Jesse wondered.
One soot-covered girl
turned to him with a glare.
"He try me one more time,"
she said grimly. "I had 'nuff."
"Revenge is an act of passion,
but vengeance of justice.
Injuries are revenged;
crimes are avenged,"
Jesse declared.
Noting the date, he
smiled at the irony.
* * *
Notes:
"Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged."
-- Samuel Johnson
Juneteenth, celebrated annually on June 19, is the national commemoration of the ending of slavery in the U.S. Originating in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, it marks the date Union soldiers landed and shared news that enslaved people were now free.
It is important to note that this is more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1, 1863.
The Big House is slang for the residence of slaveowners on a plantation.
Runaway slaves and indentured servants were a persistent problem for landowners in colonial Virginia.
The first recorded slave revolt in the British colonies occurred in September 1663.
Sexual slavery was a common reason for resistance.