Touchstones Fording The Ohio

many a winding path has brought me

to touchstones fording the Ohio

from the way I came enslaved

to the places I would have never been saved

that led through deep dark forests

that miraculously led me home

to the land of my birth

with a tug and a jerk

deadly silence of affliction 

to the banks of The old Ohio

brought me back muddy

September 14, 2021

(rewritten October 15, 2021)