Poem: “i am accused of tending to the past”

i am accused of tending to the past

as if i made it,

as if i sculpted it

with my own hands. i did not.

this past was waiting for me

when i came,

a monstrous unnamed baby,

and i with my mother’s itch

took it to breast

and named it

History.

she is more human now,

learning language everyday,

remembering faces, names and dates.

when she is strong enough to travel

on her own, beware, she will.

Lucille Clifton, “i am accused of tending to the past” from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010. Copyright © 1991 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted with permission of The Permissions Company, Inc. on behalf of BOA Editions Ltd. www.boaeditions.org.