Poem: '5 Years Later: for Us (For Martin)'

A poem in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from Fr Joseph Brown, SJ, a Black Jesuit priest and professor at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

, and Fr Joseph Brown, SJ

September 13, 2022 . 5:35 AM

3 min read

1.
ain’t a soul amongst us
who don’t know for sure
LORD, LORD. that we ain’t
in heaven yet
and our hell is standing still

did you hear him shout
don’t you get weary
don’t you get weary

2.
like as not we all old
folks bent and twisted
from the common misery
shading our eyes with
crooked fingers palm-
high to the sun
looking
out down the road all day
who are we looking for

did you hear him shout
soon I will be done with
the troubles of the world,
with the troubles of the world

did you hear him children
did you

3.
so much time lost
since I heard him shout
since I heard him sing
since I heard him pray
since he died at supper
and they took him away from us

4.
some nights, dark and quiet, I get to nodding
my head thinking and listening once more to
his big, spirit-filled voice urging us on
urging us on to victory
then my hand starts
tapping on my knee and my eyes jerk open
straining to see him up there on his mountain
pointing out the dream pointing out
so much
time lost since I heard him shout

5.
sometimes the tears still come
sometimes I catch myself looking
out the window for a sign in the sky
or something clear and certain

and what I see is that wagon
that wagon pulled by them
mules and all of us all of
us LORD. pushed down into grief
where there are no words stumbling
after
hoping just to make it

6.
So much time lost
my faith is slow rumbling
like that wagon and I’m
tired, LORD, LORD. I’m
tired
of trying to hear him
trying to forget him I’m tired
of so much time lost of quick
pains in my hands and knees
tired of the shooting flashes
in my head
LORD, LORD. we standing
here it seems where he left us
looking out at jordan
waiting
for the signal to begin waiting
for what
I heard him say keep
a-moving on I know I heard
him say it

7.
is he crying like we are now
over so much time lost

our tears seem to make the
jordan swell its banks

weariness don’t you stop
me I heard him say it
LORD, LORD. I heard him
shout
so much time lost
we still got today
LORD. DO
RIGHT, JESUS. let us take
the plunge
we ain’t so
broken yet that we can’t
move a mighty distance more

8.
shout it children shout it
for him
make jordan shrink and tremble
and move a mighty distance
more

like we heard him say

we still got today
shout it children
shout it

-- Luke