Escape
Shadows, shadows,
Hug me round
So that I shall not be found
By sorrow:
She pursues me
Everywhere,
I can't lose her
This enjambment ends the sing-song-y rhythm that the poem opens with.  Because it is enjambed and because it is set off with a colon (or, in some publications, a semi-colon) it has special emphasis placed on it.  It also stands out in that it is not a part of the rhyme scheme of the first three lines or of the last four lines; it is completely on its own within the stanza.  “Sorrow” also breaks the pattern of one-syllable words it is preceded by.  Sorrow is personified and becomes the villain here; it is what the narrator is hiding from. Usually, though, sorrow is an emotion brought about by an action or event, so what could have caused the sorrow here?  Given the context of the publication, sorrow could perhaps stem from a dissatisfaction with African American circumstances in the U.S.  These circumstances could relate to lynching, which Johnson argues against in her works.
Escape