My Underground Queen. Monday's Inspiration 65

Manatita is an esteemed author living in London, UK. He writes spiritual books, flash fiction and esoteric poetry, his favourite genre.

My Underground Queen

My underground Queen, elegant, serene … majestic,

Speaks of Love silently, like an immaculate rose,

In a language singing sweetly to my heart.

Her dhuku gele elaborate head-wrap, woven from the finest

Silk in Africa, adorns her charisma, like an Egyptian princess.

I see her, eyes steady, ebony cheeks glistening

From the glint of summer, nose molded with care and

beauty; laced with the genes of ‘Mama’ Africa herself.

She carries her bearing well, with poise … dignity,

Stateliness and modesty, like the goddess that she is.

This unsung Empress, like one standing against injustice,

Wears her head-wrap, like a Queen would wear a tiara;

Sweet neck caressed by sky-blue raiment’s, of the finest silk.

I see her on my daily commute … proud, flawless, forceful;

As regal and candescent as the moon. Not vain,

But an untainted lioness, drawing effortlessly

From the vigour of ancient warriors. Our eyes meet,

She smiles … like Nefertiti, a Nubian goddess, her eyes,

Like magnetic resonance, scanning the very depths of my

Soul, cautious, penetrating … looking for signs of affinity.

I feel the depth and power in her fortitude … the deep scars

Within this royalty of the sun … steadfast, zephyrs waltzing

With her garment where she sits, a true messenger of Love.

She’s a significant part of a network, ferrying escaped slaves to Freedom –

That unalienable right, given by the Divine which slave-masters, inflicting a

Legacy of supremacy and indifference, seemed not to respect. So, here’s

My Queen, one part of a convergence of several undercover efforts,

Designed to remove the chains, so brutally inflicted on innocent humans,

Whose only crime was a love of freedom, in their own African haven.

I now know my Queen has purpose. This royal Empress,

This rare diamond, is like a fine vintage, made from pressed

Berries, straight from the sacred vines of Nubia, in the

Kingdom of Tush. She is the quintessence of finesse, yet

Powerful, a selfless risk-taker, fighting unbowed against man’s

Inhumanity to man, in this … our sacred earth.

She reminds me of lotus flowers,

Sitting gracefully on a lake, and I could dance in her garden

Forever. Yet she’s here, mesmerizing, her beauty

Adding lustre to the carriage window, and I’m proud to sit beside her.

As this is no ordinary metro, but an underground railroad –

A secret and clandestine resistance movement, which led to the

Freedom of countless slaves to the North. Yes, this is no ordinary

Queen, but a Moses of her people, A dauntless heroine bleeding,

Removing the echoes of burning pain, inflicted

On the blood of her ancestral people.

Je t’aime; Yo te quiero, más hoy que ayer; pero no tanto como

mañana; Na cu penda sana; me do wo pa pa pa; aii!

Manatita, The Lantern Carrier. 4^th January, 2020.

Credit: The Spanish is taken from a wooden tablet given to my wife around 1979. It contained the name of the Spanish author, which I have forgotten. I have seen it used in songs by different people on the internet and also done by a Hubber here.

The Underground Railroad was formed in the late 1700s. It ran north and grew steadily until the Civil War began. It was a network of secret routes and safe houses, or ‘stations’, established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century.

It was a clandestine operation, organized by resistance movements of different colour: slaves, ex-slaves and abolitionists, concerned about the grossly inhumane treatment of the many innocents, taken predominantly from Africa, to become slaves. One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the "Railroad". Some routes led to Mexico, where slavery had been abolished., but some routes ran towards Florida.

These safe-houses were used by enslaved African-Americans to escape into free states where many were sympathetic to their cause. Canada was also one of the ports of call for the freed slaves. The emancipators were all daring men and women of various walks of life, who bonded together in the cause of freedom for the enslaved. They sheltered and aided those escaping secretly and were collectively referred to as the "Underground Railroad".

Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were both slaves – notable figures - who played hugely significant roles in the call for freedom from bondage of the many shackles and other modes of oppression from their slave-masters.

Ref: Wikipedia.org

Author's note

As I am known in poetry circles here in London, I was approached and given a painting to write a poem on. As such, I subsequently learnt the history of the Underground Railroad. My Painting is called My Underground Queen. Little did I know that it is a different type of underground.

The Underground Railroad

© 2020 manatita44