One Nineteen Oh Nine

[AuntShecky]

“Something cosmic and mystical is going on, and we are all being touched by it.”
[Quote by a parishioner at the annual interfaith service at Saint Bartholomew’s Church about the close alignment of the dates for Martin Luther King Day and tomorrow’s inauguration of the first man of African-American heritage as President of the United States.]
New York Daily News, January 19, 2009


Lines Written on One Nineteen Oh Nine

Not so much a mystic, Dr. King was a scholar.
His thoughts and actions were dyed in the real –
which does not mean he didn't pray or dream
to repaint the scars that history would not heal.

Then four score years after his birth when
(one might say) once-indifferent stars converge,
the false colors of our character begin to fade
and truer hues of content at last emerge.

As in the sky despair might start to skulk away,
so tentative rays of a hopeful sun could beam
more freely down on those who long for light
and the wish ending well, no longer a dream.

[Pendragon]

Beautiful! Too bad it couldn't be read at the inauguration! :thumbs_up

[firefangled]

Wonderful use of rhyme, Auntie. I agree with Pen about reading it at the inauguration.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Along with the stately decorum of this I appreciated the way you worked in


the false colors of our character begin to fade
and truer hues of content at last emerge.


these lines from MLK's famous "I have a dream" speech.

[cogs]

i liked it too... surprised there wasn't more poems of this sort; guess this one's so good it can't be matched... also, the stars and colors were good imagery of the flag... the flag being a good symbol of blood and struggles that a dream of freedom requires, to be 'dyed in the real'.

[jon1jt]

I enjoyed the poem, nicely written and that---but I think it's hyper-sensationalizing to suggest that MLK's dream is now a reality because of the country's electing a 1/2 African-American 1/2 caucasian president. As writers, we must adhere to truth with the responsibility to be as rocky at the bottom as the times we live in.

[AuntShecky]

Thanks to all for your comments, and Jon, I knew I wasn't supposed to sensationalize it, and so I "tried" to keep the language in the piece tentative. But I agree with you (and, apparently, Dr. King's son) that yesterday's historic occasion is
a first step only.

[jon1jt]

Thanks to all for your comments, and Jon, I knew I wasn't supposed to sensationalize it, and so I "tried" to keep the language in the piece tentative. But I agree with you (and, apparently, Dr. King's son) that yesterday's historic occasion is
a first step only.

Hey sheck, I see where you try to tone it down and on my second read I can see that a little better. For me it's the last line of the poem that still gives a more final impression of a dream achieved.


the wish ending well, no longer a dream.

As usual, a poem like all your poems with a sense of realism, a joy to read.

[AuntShecky]

The last line is part of the object for the verb "long for"
Thanks again for your feedback.
Auntie

[qimissung]

I love it.

[dibyendra]

the false colors of our character begin to fade
and truer hues of content at last emerge.




As in the sky despair might start to skulk away,
so tentative rays of a hopeful sun could beam
more freely down on those who long for light
and the wish ending well, no longer a dream.

So lovely piece! I really liked it!