A Change is Gonna Come, was released by Sam Cooke in 1964. It became an anthem for the Civil Rights movement. When I listened to the song and watched the video that went with it, I knew I had found my protest song. The video has photos from the 50’s to the present. By the end of viewing it, I was crying.
The lyrics are on the video but I will also include them here:
It’s been too hard living but I’m afraid to die
Cause I don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don’t hang around
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees
Ohhhhhhhhh…
There been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
Ever since I learned about Song Lyric Sunday, songs from my past have been going through my mind. My 67 years of life has had so many phases and the music that is dear to me reflects all the different paths I have walked.
As I contemplated what song to use this week, I realized I wanted it to relate both to my life in the past and the present. What song could do that better than Pete Seeger’s version of We Shall Overcome. As I read the words and listened to the video I chose to accompany it, I began to cry.
There were so many levels to my tears. I grew up during the struggle for civil rights and in a lot of ways that movement created the me I am today. As I looked at the photographs that are on the video below, my mind flooded with my own memories. Some of my tears were from remembering what this country was like before the push for civil rights, and feeling touched by how far we have come.
At the same time, the events of this past week (and many weeks/months/years before it) make it evident that we still have a long way to go. Therefore, another part of my tears were due to despair arising from the recent killings in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas and the overwhelm of not knowing if, when or how we will make the violence stop. When will we (humans) learn to live with love and respect for all beings?
No one knows for sure who wrote We Shall Overcome. There is some new evidence that it may have originally been a gospel hymn composed between 1932 and 1942. The lyrics have changed over the years. The song as I know it became associated with the Civil Rights movement in 1959 and was soon considered its unofficial anthem. (Wikipedia)
The 5th Writing 201: Poetry assignment was to write an elegy; a first-person poem on themes of longing, loss, and mourning. The word prompt was “fog.” My poem is very rough, because I definitely don’t know what I am doing on this one!
I chose to write about my experience with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome during the 1980’s. While the poem itself is unskilled, I believe there will probably be numerous readers who will relate to my experience.
The Fog
Five years living in the fog
Everything is slow; can’t think, can’t do.
Exhaustion never ends.
Plan after plan put on hold.
Dreading to go to bed at night
Can’t face yet another dawn.
Walking to the kitchen to make some food?
Not worth it… why try?
Heavy
Heavy
Heavy
Five years later, fog is lifting
Good days, bad days, but it’s shifting.
Will it end? Will it return?
Dare I hope?
May I hope?
Hope?
She sat on the floor in the corner of the darkened room. Her knees were curled against her chest and tears were streaming down her cheeks.
She had been in psychotherapy for some time and she had made significant changes in her life, but she felt as if she was living in-between two worlds and didn’t belong in either. She couldn’t go back to her old life because therapy had opened her eyes to reality; returning to a state of denial was not possible. Her prior coping skills didn’t work anymore, but her new skills weren’t solid. She felt awkward and clumsy as she tried out new ways of being in the world.
She was even more disturbed by the emptiness she still felt in her heart. Her therapists, group members and friends had given her so much love, yet she still felt empty. It was as if her heart was a bucket that had a hole in the bottom. Whatever came in, flowed out within hours. She wondered what was wrong with her.
As she sobbed in frustration, she had no way of knowing that only a week later she would sense that the hole had sealed over. It didn’t stay sealed, but since it had clearly happened, she would begin to have hope that the sense of emptiness would end.
As the days and weeks continued to pass by, the hole would become securely sealed and her heart would begin to fill. Never again would she experience that overwhelming sense of emptiness.
The change you seek may be just around the corner.
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”-William Shakespeare
Living, Learning and Letting Go 