January: Year-day 15

              
                                                
                                               
January: Year-day 15

 remembering Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Somewhere I heard the voice of a man charge
the world; somewhere I heard a voice of might.
Somewhere I heard the voice of a man large
and deep; somewhere I heard a voice of light.

Somewhere I heard the voice of a man word
on word well up in me; somewhere I learned
how the right words can turn the one who's heard
inside out.  Somewhere I heard; somewhere yearned.

Somewhere, too, a Robert Lee Perry, black
and big, companioned me; chided my moods
of self-disgust.  Somewhere, a Brother Grant
counseled me, listened; and, somewhere, Sam.  Back
at Oshkosh I somewhere, helped Blacks love, bruise,
through words.  Yet yours, Reverend . . . so meek my stance.

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