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, Tha Master.
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: in the hall of fame.
Posts: 3,588
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Tell a story of unity in the face of oppression
The Diary of Mary Donner
Early December, 1846
it had been a long fall...
back down to the caves of hell
the grapes were well spoiled
we were living on the taste and smell
of life or death...
welcome to the life of death
i smiled as i wrote this...
a cold and bitter smile with this triteful pen..
they had sent relief...many strong men to lend a hand
yet we were still roasting leather strands for food
nothing left to grab
to eat, and when i saw the man from the relief passing by
i begged him for a piece of bread...JUST ONE PIECE to pass the time
before i pass my life...the cold had grasped my eyes
mother was almost blind, in this kind of bind, she wouldn't last, she'd die
i knew it...my brother though, he thought it prudent
to hold our family ties strong, despite the fact it's futile
it all is...faith was running low as we all hit
the rock bottom that was buried under this snow with the dead bodies
poppa looked already ghostly...pale white yet hoping
unceasing optimism, we had come for gold and
we would leave with gold, we would find our way, escape
and trapse across the lands of glorious San Francisco, oh Amazing Grace
how sweet the sound of wolves ravaging the corpses of our fallen kin
my younger brother asked me where God went...i said the snow had swallowed him..
Late Febuary, 1847
three months have past
three months that have left me uninspired
am i worse off surviving this winter, or letting death retire
me, see we are sinners...
all of us
each and everyone here at Alder Creek are hollowed hearts
and airless lungs, and bloodless veins...
a collection of broken souls
many more have died...many more have cried
as our hope is stoned...
my father is dying... it's been 2 months of "he'll die tommorrow"
but somewhere in me, i've lost the desire for crying sorrow
the winter has been a torture...my feet are burned by snow
purple toes and blackened soles as i'm stuck in this hapless hole
it's murder's row
and we are terrible people...inhumane monsters of evil
the blood still stains my lips red, the blood of someone too feeble
they say we must eat well...they say we'll make it out
but my soul has been struck naked now, i'd wish i was just taken out
so they could eat me just as we have eaten all the rest
my younger brothers don't seem to understand -
- they've found a love for human flesh
mouths smothered in human flesh, stomach filled with human flesh
the one who created this open sky watches us feed on human flesh!
yes we eat the human flesh...the looming deaths are almost a blessing
i feel like i am the only one sitting down, confessing...
mother's vision is almost completely gone, she tries to feed us all
she can, but she is weak, i fear she's gone...
and i fear this song...
and i fear writing these words, knowing each one leads me closer to death
swing low sweet chariot, as i am left immobile and stressed..
April, 1847
we had no option...we were hungry..we were starved
we were depleted
we needed to do it, it was imperative, he could see it
he could understand it...
he could see why it had to be done
couldn't he?
or maybe i'm trying to defend something that shouldn't be
see...father's hand had went limp long before...
and we hadn't the strength to truly bury him under this frozen floor
of earth...my feet are still burned by its chill
still purple, mother says it's frostbite...my toes won't curl..
and we had to do it...
we had run out of hides and the rest were gone
as we waited for the third relief, kept pressing on.
trying to survive...we huddled close as family
realizing, as my brother put it "only dad to eat"
Isaac Donner, my father, my mother's lover
my uncle George's brother, my brother George's hero
now we cut him..
and ate him...we had to...we lacked food
i cannot write anymore...we are sinners, but we had to..
Late May, 1847
the third relief has said i'll join them on their return
mother is dying, and survival is for the fittest, or so i've learned
i look back, at a life, a year, i want to leave behind
i know
that one day i'll find the gold...i promise you father, i'll find the gold
Mary Donner and her story of the hope to prosper
only to find the cold and hostile nature of life as the vilest toxin
brought down, 36 names etched into the history book
36 names end up gone forever, a list of good
bad, ugly, unkind, and forsaken
but the Donner Party is a story of survival of man when faced with
everything and anything...they stuck together in oppression
a family of tears in a world of snow and fears and death's lessons
Mary Donner was 7 years old when she was rescued from the horrors of the infamous Donner Party.
She was part of the last group to leave the site.
36 out of 83 members of the party died.
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10-11-2004, 02:01 PM
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