from 'Dreams and Visions'
Delighting in Ray and Bonnie's duet
I remember the rift in our nation
and think, The sides can meet
in this mixture of Country and Blues.
We need the breadth of Ray's repertoire.
We need to feel deep with his soul
the pain and joy of being human
deep past skin and ideologies
deeper than DNA to spirit
where we all are awed and dumbstruck children
in this hard existence we call life.
We need to sing together
like Ray and Norah and Bonnie and Willie...
putting down shots or sipping wine
or wiping the foam from our mustaches or lips
or taking no drink at all, thank you—
laughing and kidding between sessions
where the focus is harmonizing together.
Strange that Ray and Ronald died the same time—
strange but maybe a sign.
In death with Bobby and Martin and Jack
back to original dust
perhaps they have a message for us
a message in the rhetoric of Thomas Jefferson
intoned again in a new March on Washington.
a harmonious coming together poem that gives the reader a feeling of what being human really entails? ...........wonderfully written.
thank you, tom, for reading and commenting on it. it's one of those poems that flowed out quickly. i've debated taking out the 2004 from the title; though it's going on thirteen years old, the conditions in the u.s. are even worse than when i wrote it. -g
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Glen, yes, I didn't really note the year 2004 in the title, and as it seemed so perfectly relevant to the current mood of our country, obviously the heart of the message so eloquently presented is timeless. Was this not the aspiration of our forefathers, to forge a nation out of so many different streams of human culture and experience? And yet the doing is so much more than the desiring, especially when humans are involved. Excellent and still very timely piece, Glen.
thank you, neal, for your kind comments. reading your reply about our forefathers, i'm considering that perhaps their vision was as broad as might be expected given their place in geography and time. certainly mlk expanded our vision, if we didn't already have it, that all men indeed meant all men- and women. the best of life be yours always. -glen