A Gullah Angel
“Be still sad heart and cease repining;
Behind the clouds the sun is shining,
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life a little rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.”- - Longfellow
Charleston, SC
After the Old Bethel church had been in decline for many
years it was moved to its present location for the Gullah.
A smell of salt always in the breeze, the sound of waves
crashing on the rocks may be heard.
He stands in the old adjacent cemetery looking at a grave,
adorned by an ebony angel, a tear falls as the wing tip is touched.
My story was in a different time and place, a different culture even.
Taking place in 1881 long after the terrible division was over.
Yet the landmarks, preserved from that war lingered,
even as they took on new meaning and significance.
The churches were all touting “demon rum”
while the temperance leagues marched.
With drum and cymbal they moved,
from church to levee, up the banks
and through the square where the Citadel stands.
Then turning left through the heart of Charleston
to stop at the open market place,
where everyone gathered in the long hot evenings.
The church not segregated then, the Gullah
attended along with the whites- -
more for show and display of wealth, than for religion.
For that they would reserve Sunday evening
and a larger church in the heart of town.
He lived adjacent to the church, beyond the graveyard.
The first time he saw her, she saw him first.
When he looked up and caught the stare
the most amazing look of rapture came over him.
Both were embarrassed and neither could speak.
He finally composed himself and invited her to come into the garden.
After a short fiery relationship her swollen condition
prompted the church to intervene.
It was on the verge of ostracizing both of them
when she slipped on the rocks of the jetty.
As he tried to save her she delivered a son.
In all the confusion and darkness, and because of her weakened
condition he could not save both of them and she died.
His Great Grandfather lived and so continued the long line
on down through his grand babies. This one would not have known her
even had she lived to a ripe old age. But the fact of love denied to
these two young people in that moment in time, has been told and
retold down the generations. Sometime, in the lifetime of each
generation, the statue has been visited to keep a promise that is made
by every son of every son.
Sept. 29 2011 Charles Henderson
For Constance's "Church by the Ocean" contest
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