By
Bonnie Parham Lee
Unpublished Copyright--1994
Surviving in Sweden in the 1800's
Takes stamina and stubborness to farm
the hard rocky land.
Hungry, without hope, there is no future here.
Amerika promises much.
I am sixteen, not so tall, but a woman.
I go to Amerika.
In Nebraska I meet Claus, also from Sweden.
A tall gentle man with a loving heart.
We marry, have two girls and two boys.
The baby is two months old and I wear black.
Left with nothing, I must feed my children.
Cooking, cleaning and laundry I do for others
also eases my pain.
My strength is in God.
He is my rock.
I find a homestead in Colorado.
The soil is good.
My children work hard, are honest
and of a happy nature.
I marry again.
A good man Peterson, but he will not learn English.
"We will go home to Sweden," he tells me.
I will never go back for I am an American.
A war, though far away, takes my youngest son,
The light and the song of my heart,
And returns him in a box.
This sorrow never leaves me.
Nor does my oldest daughter survive me.
The daughter and son left to me
marry and give me grandchildren.
Widowed once more I live alone.
The great depression hurts many,
but I am a woman of property.
My struggle is over and my children will survive.
For in family there is future.
In God there is love,
And in America there is hope.
OR
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