Traveling Shoes: The Story of Willye White, US Olympian and Long Jump Champion

Traveling Shoes: The Story of Willye White, US Olympian and Long Jump Champion — page 5
When I was born my father looked at me This is not my child BABY NEW YEAR December 31 1939 I came into the world before the clock struck twelve It was almost New Year's Day in Money Mississippi As Mama Willie marveled and gave me her first name Daddy Johnny sat in silence He studied me like a book Johnny White did not beam or coo with bubbling joy There I was his firstborn child a boggling mystery I was an oddball baby with green eyes and reddish hair My body was a lump of dark blue veins and light bright cocoa skin and said Willye B. White Mama Willie was pe can brown and Johnny was midnight black Anger filled my daddy's face He yelled This is NOT my child Mama Willie disagreed But her body was exhausted There was no energy to debate Time would reveal the truth Johnny White was my father I was his strange magnolia But there on New Year's Day he stomped and stormed from the cropper shack and vanished in the morning mist When I was a baby only three days old Mama Willie packed her bags and left me with her daddy Both of my parents ran away Rejection cuts like stone Forgiveness mends a broken heart Grace is the road to joy