his master’s tombstone
“Amos Wynn, born in slavery
at his own expense he had a marker placed
on the grave of his former master
erected by a white friend 1947″
— on a marker in Baptist Hill cemetery, Auburn, AL
near the cemetery gate is a marker
to commemorate Amos Wynn
who saved up his money
to buy a headstone for the man
who had enslaved him since birth
the marker reads erected by a white friend
oh the happy slave
who was treated well
who loved his master
who grieved when his master passed
by all accounts they were friends
Amos and the man whose last name he shared
not through birth but through possession
when his master died violently
at the hands of another
Amos worked and saved
borrowed and begged
until he could afford to place the stone
that his friend’s widow never placed
it’s hard to know what to make of all this
the natural tendency is to be angry
to feel — on Amos’s behalf — that it’s all a lie
a horrible misrepresentation of history
a false telling of Amos’s inner life
but perhaps harder still to imagine, to accept
is that he might really have loved his master
for if that is true, what else might be true?
17 March 2013
Auburn, AL
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