In Lucille Clifton's "at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989" what is the significance of the rhythm in the last five lines?...

is an
African-American poet who went to visit Walnut Grove Plantation in South Carolina in 1989, and,
not surprisingly, it was this experience which prompted her to write "at the cemetery,
walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989."

This poem is an attempt
to expose an injustice, and in an interview with Bill Moyers, Clifton explains what she saw that
moved her to try to right that wrong. 

She was part of a group which took a
guided tour of the two thousand-acre Walnut Grove plantation, and while everything they saw was
original, well preserved, and fascinating, the guide mentioned nothing about the fact that this
family plantation had slaves. Not only was it obvious that a South Carolina plantation in the
early 1800s would have had slaves, but Clifton saw clear evidence of this reality when she
looked at the burial ground. She told Moyers:

Walnut
Grove Plantation has the family burying ground, and on the sides of the roped-off path leading
to that burying ground...

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