John Lewis
___ Dear John
.
The instructions
while reading this composition
if there were
/ instructions
the
instructions
would be
to hum
/ silently
“oh freedom”
“ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around”
“we shall overcome”
“I don’t feel no ways tired”
/ we’ve come too far
“a change gonna come”
.
Dear John
.
/ Courageous
.
/ Young Blood
.
he was called
the conscience of the congress
has flown away to eternal recline
to rest
to lie down
/ a gathering
around the throne
looking up
at the brilliant
right hand
smiling and assured
by the complexion of his brother
marveling
in the light of
the nazarene
/ a long line of
divine
beautiful outlaws
well done
my good and faithful servant
.
Dear John
.
/ Courageous
.
/ Young Blood
.
.
arrested over forty times
for causing
good trouble
upsetting the evil
status quo
/ he too
was bloodied
dressed in sunday best
beaten with brutal baton
on a bridge
not long ago
just down yonder
below
the mason dixon demon
line
/ nailed
to a ku klux
cross
he sang sacred
hymns
they whistled wicked
dixie
/ a sacrificial
lamb
he lay his body down
to tyranny
/ only
to rise
again
in the sacred halls
of
justice
.
Dear John
.
/ Courageous.
.
/ Young Blood
.
.
to be so young
to be so
/ the embodiment of an old
negro spiritual
and freedom song
so full of
power
a sharecropper’s tune
a hope for the coming
harvest
a story to tell
/ a legacy to leave
a blueprint
for struggle
a cross to bear
/ a crown to wear
a love
supreme
the ancestors’
wildest
dream
..
.
Dear John
.
/ Courageous
.
/ Young Blood
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