The stars my path to freedom.

The moon my guiding light.

The forest my sanctuary in the dead of night.

Home to the south freedom to the north. Deciding is a struggle in which my mind leaps back and forth.

Instinct is the cause for which Ohio I am bound .To the land in the north where freedom can be found ...

I run. I keep running.

I know they are coming for me.

I hide.I hide for dear life.

If they catch me I will feel the whip strike my back and rip my skin.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

I can feel my heart pumping, Boom! Boom!

I am terrified they will find me!

I see their lanterns lingering in the darkness,floating as if no one was there.

They spot me. They run out of the darkness from behind my back.

I hear their hard shoes hit the dusty earth with a thud.

My heart is beating faster and faster, harder and harder.

I run as fast as I can. I get up and run.

They are on my tail. I am running out of breath.

I feel their breath from behind.

I manage to slip out of their grip, although I do not know how.

Now I am in the hands of a kind Quaker family!

I know freedom is within my grasp.

 Into blackness I was born,

To be whipped to be torn,

But a light burns madly inside.

The right to be free, the way it was meant to be.

I sob and I cry, but my calls are denied.

Every day I wait for the coming, like a wolf in rest who is very cunning.

Soon my courage builds up. I run and I hide.

But I know they are right behind.

Then I know I am whole. Then I stay and they go.

 I run and hide but the pain is still inside.

I trip and stumble blindly through the trees.

Freedom is not far off.

Slave catchers follow hot on my trail and I wonder if I will make it.

I fear the punishments that will await me if I fail my quest for a new life.

I hear angry shouts that fill the darkness.

I know freedom lies just beyond the border.

I gain speed . Suddenly the thing I fear most is upon me.

A river blocks my path.

I run and without any thought I hurl myself into the cold water.

It bites my legs and nips at my arms, yet I force myself onward.

At last I see what I am hoping for,

A small light in the window of a cabin.

I run faster and faster with hope and fear running through me like a river.

Finally, the cabin is in a picture and I hear a warm, kind voice.

Safety is upon me and the cruelty and fear is behind.

but my heart is strong and I have the will to go on,

There will be many more miles to travel.

Freedom is so close, yet so far.