Echos of Home
A song from Fluke of the Universe
Salinda’s Walk – Volume 2: The Trail Wasn’t Over
She didn’t hum as much after the trail. But when she did, it meant something was okay again.
It wasn’t a full song—just a low, steady line that rose and dipped like water. She’d hum while shelling peas. While sweeping the porch. While stitching the hem of a skirt she’d already fixed three times.
I never heard words with it. But I knew what it meant. It meant the world hadn’t taken everything.
One night, I woke to the sound of her humming outside. I looked through the window. She was looking up at the stars. Not saying anything. Just… humming.
That sound stayed with me longer than most things I can name. And sometimes when I feel the wind come through the trees just right, I swear I hear it again.
Historical Context: This memory belongs to Salinda’s guardian mother, remembered after the Trail of Tears in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Her biological mother died during the removal, but the guardian’s steady humming brought a fragile sense of healing and continuity in a new home. These everyday moments — sweeping the porch, shelling peas, stitching seams — are part of the survival life that followed the journey west.
Lyrics
Verse 1:
I heard her hum beneath the stars
No words to speak, no need for scars
The porch was still, the night was wide
She hummed the ache she used to hide
Chorus:
Mmm… mm-mmm… mmmm…
I hear her still when the wind comes through
Mmm… mm-mmm… mmmm…
The sound that stayed, the sound I knew
Verse 2:
She swept the dust, she stitched the seams
She hummed her grief into our dreams
No song to sell, no stage, no light
Just Mama’s hum to hold the night