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| Sleepless Night by � thethunderwoman As I lay here, unable to sleep, I gaze up at the stars and wonder how it would have been to be a Cherokee woman in 1838. That was the time of the infamous Trail of Tears. My family would have been torn, without notice, from our home. Everything not stolen, destroyed: house burned, crops ruined, livestock butchered. If we had been very lucky, the family would have been together at the time of the round up. At night, unable to sleep, I would have taken my blanket and wrapped what little extra warmth it afforded, around my son. My son, who yesterday was a carefree child, who today (if he survives) must be a man. My husband would have already done the same for our daughter who is too young to understand, our daughter who coughs and runs a fever. We would have placed our children between us to give what trivial body heat we could to them both. Through the night holding each other with our precious bundles between us. I would have lain there gazing at the stars wondering if morning light would still find us all alive! Footnote: the Trail of Tears cost the lives of over 4,000 men, women, children and elders before the destination was reached. Much of it was marched through the winter, with only thin blankets and no fires for warmth. My own family stayed East, but my husband's family made this horrible walk! iiiieeeeeee! Thunder |
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