'Work and Save'

At Friday’s Living History Cemetery Tour I “met” Nancy Ross Gooch (1811-1901), portrayed by Sarina Krastev. Here’s a poem:

On Course

Born a slave, she bore a son.

When he was three, her master packed her up

with his other goods, headed out west

to the Gold Rush. Her boy too young

to work the goldfields, he was left behind.

She arrived in California: brand-new State

that outlawed slavery. She was free,

to work her own way in life, to wash and cook

and mend for gold miners. She worked and saved,

bought land and planted fruit and veggies.

Worked and saved. Bought her grown son’s

freedom and passage to California.

A ‘doer,’ he worked hard and prospered too.

Grandchildren born free. At ninety,

she was proud she’d made something;

and she died free.

~ Taylor Graham

photo: Sarina Krastev as Nancy