21 September 2019

By Philip Kuepper

There lies anchored at Mystic
Seaport Museum a profoudness of American
history, side-by-side,
the Mayflower and the Amistad,
the original passengers of each
ship seeking
freedom from enslavement,
freedom from ideologies contrary
to their own.  America, for them,
lay a harbor of survival,
after the shackles clamped
round their minds, round their wrists
and ankles; Pilgrims and slaves
packed in holds,
human beings reduced to ballast.
And, yet, never would their hearts give way
to chains.
For their wills were bent on change,
driven by the inner
spirit of release
from enforced bondage.
The shores of American acted
as a magnet to their ships,
acted as magnet
to their souls.

(10 September 2019)