Truth Be Told

From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson:

People say that history repeats itself.  That is most certainly the case with Time’s Person of the Year for 2017, the silence breakers.  Back in the late 1800s, Time selected another group of  wormen as the Women of the Year, the Truth Tellers.
 
Similar to the women speaking out in 2017, this group came forward to protest against serial predation.  These women and a host of other accusers spoke out about the  inappropriate, abusive and in some cases illegal behavior they faced from politicians such as Drittereich Drümpf  (a distant relative of Donald Trump’s) and Lester “Les” Moore (a distant relative of Roy Moore’s).
 
Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) wrote a now-classic poem based on the stories of these women, “He touched me, and I lived to tell” (below on the left).  His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “He touched me, so I live to know” (below on the right). 

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
He touched me, and I lived to tell
That such a day, not permitted
He groped upon my breast –
It was a power play on me
Then silenced, as the awful sea
Puts minor streams to rest.
 
And now, I’m different from before,
As if I’d gained superior nerve –
And gushed a true Account –
My spirit, too, that wandered so –
My Gloomy face – transfigured now –
From what I did Recount –
 
Into this Light, now I have come,
With others, all in Unison,
Who tell their anguished tales –
Not Addled, battle in reply
Lift such a Political lie
Of these injurious Males.
​

By Emily Dickinson:
 
He touched me, so I live to know
That such a day, permitted so,
I groped upon his breast –
It was a boundless place to me
And silenced, as the awful sea
Puts minor streams to rest.

And now, I'm different from before,
As if I breathed superior air –
Or brushed a Royal Gown –
My feet, too, that had wandered so –
My Gypsy face – transfigured now –
To tenderer Renown –

Into this Port, if I might come,
Rebecca, to Jerusalem,
Would not so ravished turn –
Nor Persian, baffled at her shrine
Lift such a Crucifixial sign
To her imperial Sun.
​

Below left:  Drittereich Drümpf, a distant relative of Donald Trump.  Like Trump, Drümpf was a known sexual predator. 

​Below right:  Lester "Les" Moore, a relative of Roy Moore's (pictured with his wife Orpha).  Like Roy Moore, Les Moore preyed on young girls.