Orlando.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
from “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
By James Weldon Johnson
Is calling this a tragedy too poetic? Hatred and violence deserve nothing less than the ugly descriptors of atrocities – if they “deserve” at all.
I am trying to keep my faith – the hope that the status quo changes and that love continues its work with me.
The Mayor of this City has called us to gather this evening in awakened and in purposeful solidarity.
Feel free to contact us if you need to talk.
Peace.
One comment
I helped put on a benefit concert at the Longy School of Music of Bard College at this time, and it was far more cathartic for me than anything else – tears didn’t come until that concert; I had sort of been in shock until then. Never underestimate the power of music to heal and strengthen in times of great animosity and turmoil. If we lose our reverence for the arts, we lose our humanity…