Had I the choice to be mistress of a Richmond mansion—
Fifty slaves at my beck and call;
To be a southern belle, attending balls hosted by the city’s elite,
Married into a financially safe and secure future,
Primping, chatting, preparing, planning grand parties of my own,
Wasting
away
my
life;
This, all this would I gladly give
To live in Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, or Washington, D.C.
Working for my keep; married, not for wealth, but for love;
Training to be a nurse, helping the wounded on the battlefield—easing their pain, calming their fears, or giving courage and strength to those in the jaws of death,
And making my life
count.
based on Walt Whitman’s “Had I the Choice”
