ODE TO THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE

President Obama stands on the shoulders

Of Rosa and Stokely, and Martin and Chaney

And Till and Nkrumah, and Angela and Marcus

But I stand on the shoulders of Aunt Hilda

Who owned the Mandeville Bookroom in Jamaica

She gave me my first grownup book “A Basket of Flowers” when I was only nine

I loved her visits when she came to America because as long as I remember

She would bathe my feet

It was her ritual, it was her expression of love to me

As the master bathed the feet of the disciples

So she humbled herself to bathe the feet of a child

How transcendent I felt

How special

How loved

I remember not a word of our conversations

I only remember the devotion

The service

The love inherent in the act

She is gone now

She left us today

She is in a place where the King of Kings is washing HER feet

I miss her already though she has only just left

But the memory of her understanding, service and quiet love to this child will never leave my heart.

Goodbye Aunt Hilda

Requiescat In Pace

I PLEDGE

I just watched a video produced by Oprah, entitled I PLEDGE, using a panoply of stars; Ashton and Demi, Will.i.am, Jamie Pressley, Courtenay Cox and David Arquette. The list goes on. They are in LOVE with Barack! Because of him, they will go to food banks; they will sell their Hummers they will adopt a baby or two. And it’s all good. But how about when you’re signing that contract for your $20 million payout for a film, you take enough to cover your tax liability and give the rest to a local school board. What about using your points on that next deal not to dole out the food, but BUY it. I get it guys; you’re supposed to spur me to do what I can, by doing what you do – dazzle me.

But here is what I PLEDGE

I pledge to do only the work that will edify or beautify the world

(Guess that means I’m out of corporate advertising)

I pledge to be truthful with myself, so I can speak the truth

I pledge to not look the other way when someone needs active help

I pledge to be responsible, responsive, and when needed retrograde

Because not everything in the past has lost its value

I pledge to inculcate in all those who are not convinced

Of the value of our elders

It is no coincidence that while we panic about our 401(k)s

And ARMs, and credit cards

Our elders reach in their bosoms, and under their mattresses,

They create something out of nothing

While we make nothing out of the little we have left

I Pledge to do just a little bit better

THE DEPTHS?

Saul of Tarsus, Paul, the Saint

Encouraged mourners with the words

“To be absent from the body is to be present

With the Lord”

I have come to see that the reality of depression

Is being one hundred percent

In the body

To be constantly focused on its flaws,

Its lumps

Its bumps

Its misdeeds

Its mistakes

And its absence from the Lord

Call it what you will

She, He, It, Jehovah, Allah, Yeshua, Yahweh, Buddha, Shiva

THE UNIVERSE

When you are unable to connect with the life force

Life itself becomes untenable

You walk, you talk, you eat, and you drink

You do what it takes to stay alive

But you are devoid of LIFE

“These are the times that try men’s souls”

Stay in your soul, remember your life force

We’ll be all right

HOMOGENEITY

I’ve been thinking a lot about homogenization

It works wonderfully for milk but not so much for people

One nation under God

That is true

The melting pot

The boiling stew

It is served in one bowl

But each flavor enhances the other

Melding but maintaining its own savor

Let us try not to be uniform, but rather unified in purpose

Common in goal, but individual in method

Adapting; without relinquishing

That which makes us unique

WHAT I LOVE

The prayerful serenity of a Bach cantata

The strident poignancy of a Jay-Z rhyme

The complicated eroticism of Miles’ trumpet

The heartfelt rasp of Johnny Cash

The smooth and sexy stylings of Tony Bennett

The Divinely inspired heart cry of Bob Marley

“Music Hath Charms To Soothe the Savage Beast”

Or so the Bard has said

But greater still is its power to unite, to edify, to give voice

To that which we sometimes cannot articulate

It is all praise song

A message to the Creator

A message to humanity

And we each have a song