Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I put this poem on the blog back in April, but it seems appropriate to post it again, but with some additions and a new ending.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

©1995, 2009 Rolland G. Smith

I had a dream the other night
And Martin Luther King was there.
He spoke in tones befit the wise
And asked me if I’d share,
The news of how his dream came out,
Since he had been away.

I told him times had changed somewhat
But the dream was still a dream
And somewhere in these many years
Was progress, or so it seemed.
Tell me, he said, what has happened,
Since he had been away.

We’ve legislated out the hate,
I said, but laws can’t touch the mind,
If bias reeks within the heart
There cannot be a human - kind.
It’s still not true, he said,
For he had been away.

And then he said, where he is now,
There is no ONE color bright,
Not black or white, yellow or brown.
There is only a loving light.
It’s the truth I lived, and live,
He said, as he went away.

Another dream the other night
Doctor King returned to say
“I felt a joy that overwhelms
And returned without delay.”

“What is it?” says he, within my dream
“I felt a change of mind”
I said, your seeds are flowers now
We’re finally colorblind.

A black man is our President
How’s that for your birthday?
His knowing smile filled my dream
As he went away.