The Water Dancer

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

My part has been to tell the story of the slave. The story of the master never wanted for narrators.

I was young and love to me was a fuse that was lit, not a garden that was grown. Love was not concerned with any deep knowledge of its object, of their wants and dreams, but mainly with the joy felt in their presence and the sickness felt in their departure.

“What matters is that I loved a woman, and in that love I forgot my name.

“What you must now accept is that all of us are bound to something. Some will bind themselves to property in man and all that comes forthwith. And others shall bind themselves to justice. All must name a master to serve. All must choose.

the story really was my greatest power.

“To forget is to truly slave. To forget is to die.”

“For memory is the chariot, and memory is the way, and memory is bridge from the curse of slavery to the boon of freedom.”

what you must get is that for me to be yours, I must never be yours.