ami N ka mudjer? | ain’t I a woman?

Kel ómi lá fla ma mudjer ten ki djudadu subi na karu, libradu di labada, e dadu midjor kantu na tudu banda. Ningen nunca ka djuda-m subi na karu, salta rubera ó da-m bon kantu pa-m xinta. Y ami N ka mudjer? Txeka-m! Txeka nhas brasu! N ten andadu na simentera, monda y kodjeta, ki nenhun ómi ka pasa-m! Y ami N ka mudjer? N podi trabadja y kumé sima un ómi – óra ki-m atxa kumida – y xinti dor tanbé. Y ami N ka mudjer? N tive 13 fidjus, y N odjas kuazi tudu ta bendedu pa skravatura; y kantu N txora dor di mai, ningen, só nhordés ki obi-m! Y ami N ka mudjer?

[...] That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman? [...] (Sojourner Truth, US, 1851).

Posted in: 7. Versos Rabiscados