I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Just that the well has run pretty dry.
Martin Luther King was martyred fifty years ago today. This poem was written in remembrance. And to point out that some dreams are too "expensive to be realized."
DRUM
MAJOR FOR A DREAM
Ira
G Zepp, Jr.
Your
dream was clear,
We
understood it perfectly.
Liberty
and justice for all –
But
that was too costly
For
us, too expensive
Too
dear, as they used to say;
Have-nots
having
Disinherited,
inheriting.
Is
that what you meant by
Lowering
mountains and
Exalting
valleys?
But
you beat your drum
Slowly,
persistently, non-violently.
Your
dream was clear,
We
understood it perfectly.
Heaven
on earth.
But
heaven can wait.
It
is often unwise and untimely for color of skin
To
give way to content of character: for black, white
Brown,
red yellow
To
live together in Shalom.
Is that what you mean by
Is that what you mean by
Making
rough places plain
And
crooked paths straight?
But
you beat your drum
Lovingly,
redemptively, faithfully.
Your
dream was clear.
We
understood it perfectly.
Love
your enemies,
But
that is impractical, not
Calculating
enough.
Loving
those who despise you
Who
speak calumny against you
Enables
us to be brothers and sister
In
the Beloved Community.
Is
that what you meant by
Seeing
the Promised Land?
We
understood all of this
So
perfectly, saw it so clearly
That
we beat the drummer
Senselessly,
violently, fatally.
Poem was found in a little volume with the same title. Printed in India. NOT the good old US of A.
1 comment:
Yes, we did. And we seem to be reviving that tradition of beating messengers. May the Creator guide us OUT of this darkness.
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