Coretta

CORETTA

We shall overcome.

She sat in the pew holding her child
A black veil over her face
A black veil over the world
A shadow over all things fallen
In the noon day sun
Amongst the sullen rubble
Of our metastasized and persistent tunnel vision.

We shall overcome.

How can we overcome what we can't see?

We shall overcome, some day.

What day is it that we realize
Our real war is not with foreigners or each other,
Our real war is on illness and poverty,
The natural ambitions and worldly goals
Of "One Nation Under God?"

This was the message King gave from the Riverside Church
One year to the day of his assassination.

Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day.

She was studying voice at the
New England Conservatory of Music
When a friend introduced her to
Martin Luther King,
A young Baptist minister
Working on a Ph.D. at Boston University.

She was learning to sing,
When she met the man that would reshape her life
As well as the lives of all Americans
From the tight, humped demeanor of bitter prejudice
To the Godly strains of human empathy
And real American justice.

We'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand, some day.

A short while after her husband was murdered
She was walking down a street with mourners
Staring straight ahead, no tears shed,
Looking far away into her husband's dream

Distant, in a shining future place somewhere
Beyond indifference and bias

And lingering, bitter hatred.

We are not afraid,
We are not afraid,
We are not afraid, TODAY

Oh, deep in my heart,

I always knew,
We shall overcome, some day.

The eternal flame burns on the grave sites
Of those who would have taught us well
Had we been able to merge from our caves
To bask in their greater vision

Of a world built
Not so much on the principles of mercy and justice
But the survival of the Human Race
Through cooperation and good will
Not avarice, greed and chronic selfishness.

We ARE afraid
Too afraid to be who we say we are
To afraid to be worthy of democracy
That extols the reality of freedom
Not merely mocks it,

For now.

Let your stoic face
Never fade from our memories
Or our hope.

Good night Coretta.
God bless your brave and righteous heart.