A PRESENT FOR YOU, MARTIN!
What shall I tell them, Martin?
How can I make them understand?
Shall I tell them about the hatred and injustice
You suffered, all across the land?
What do you tell them, Martin?
With their eyes all aglow
Looking for the comfort of love
You found, oh, so long ago.
Can I take them to the mountain top
And epitomize the dream?
Or shall I leave them in the valley
To wonder what it means?
Shall I tell them about the massive
March, a pilgrimage for peace?
Or do I tell them about the sit-ins,
Boycotts, tear gas and screams?
And what about the dog bites,
Water hose and police club scenes,
That put you behind prison bars, in solitude,
In the land of the free.
Shall I tell them how you fed the hungry
With food of self-respect?
Until their bellies swelled
With a sense of Somebodyness.
Or how you touched the lame
And made the cripple walk
To triumph and march
On segregated housing, segregated schools,
Poverty and the ballot box.
Should I tell them how you touched
Their eyes and made the blind see,
That those colored/white Jim Crow signs
Just could never be.
Oh! I'll tell them, Martin
And I'll tell them loud and clear
The one thing I'm sure
You would want to hear...
"Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are
Free at last!"
Copyright 1978
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