Fear Of Hoping To Get More Poem by gershon hepner

Billy Strayhorn hoped that he might to live
in freedom from the fear
of hoping that he’d get more than he’d give
when helping friend or peer.

Inspired by a segment of “History Detectives” shown on PBS on September 7, analyzing the metal plates of the song “Take the ‘A’ Train, ” which Billy Strayhorn composed for Duke Ellington (real names Edward Kennedy, like the Senator who died on August 26,2009!) . This song became the Duke’s signature tune, and there is a wonderful YouTube of it on http: //www.youtube.com/watch? v=LbGMyBiNLmM. The metal plates of the piano score were found by a dumpster diver in Brooklym 20 years ago. Billy Strayhorn composed jazz that was indistinguishable from Ellington, and was generously rewarded by him, receiving 10% of the income from his band. When the Duke performed for President Nixon in the White House in 1970 he told the audience that Billy Clayhorn lived by four moral principles: freedom of help, pride, self pit and the fear that when helping someone else he might be helping himself even more.

9/7/09