#130 The Welcome Table- Alice Walker
An old life-worn black woman at the end of her days tries to
go to church for the last time, but it is a white church. After politely
telling her to leave, and trying to shoo her out, they get forceful and carry
her to the church steps and leave her suffering outside.
Inside the church they stand and prayed about: “the
protection and promise of God’s impartial love.” Bewildered more than hurt, she
sings and stares down the road, finally spotting Jesus who has come to lead her
to salvation. She is found later dead by the side of the highway, she walked
herself to death.
Among the many wonderful traits of Alice Walker is her
poignant descriptive phrases. They paint a picture that sticks with you. These
are just some of the great quotes about this woman:
“She was angular and lean and the color of poor grey Georgia
earth, beaten by king cotton and the extreme weather.”
“Perhaps she had known suffering. There was a dazed and
sleepy look in her aged blue-brown eyes. But for those who searched hastily for
reasons in that old tight face, shut now like an ancient door, there was
nothing to read.”
“On her face centuries were folded into the circles around
on eye, while around the other, etched and mapped as if for print, ages more
threatened again to live.”
Heartbreaking story, beautifully written. That pretty much
sums up all of Alice Walker stories.
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