Count and Serve the Days

(for Martin Luther King, Junior, Day)



Four score

And fifteen years ago

A person was brought forth

Into the human world

To change that world



His clothing

As he wore them

When grown-up

Are on display

At least they were

Last time I was in Atlanta

So that we could see them

See he was a person

Not a giant

Not bearing metal armor

Though he had a strength

And for a while a protection

While others felt

Stronger and protected

With him



He was a pastor

He was named for

The first Protestant reformer

And he took steps

And got many

To take steps

To change things

That too many folk

Believed

Could not be changed



And he took on

The attitude

That not changing things

Was good

For the society

(a part)

That believed

The dominance arising

From not changing

Kept things good



Even though

Things were not so good



Protests

Marches

Covering details

With rides

And meals

The words that encourage

That could not always

Be counted on

For softness



For the wrongness to change

Was hard

And difficult

And broke many lives upon it

So strength was needed

Out of prison

Out of reason

In all persuasion

For all

Of humanity



That

Yes

It was time to dream

It was also time to move

Through the world we have

The time we have

To make things

Better

Make things fair

For everyone

Uncommitted to an evil way



Because everyone

(everyone else)

Deserves a voice

And to be heard

And everyone

Should have a turn

In which there is

Justice

And through which

Should there be an opportunity

To live

To grow

To believe

To vote

To be busy in one’s work

And delight in play



He served the faith

He served the people whom he knew

As well as

So many strangers

Finally

The human world

Out of Selma

Out of Birmingham

Our of Montgomery



With his family

That goes on

And his

Many

Many

Friends

And acquaintances



I cannot help but think

About the night he spent

In jail

As have spent

So many believers

And protesters

And did he surrender

For this

And all barriers

Set up to siege his conscience

And his hope



Seems not

For out of that experience

And all such similar

Experiences

He dreamed

He wrote

He shared his thoughts

Before

During

And after

So that there was a cause

And a cause

Articulated



We have those words now

We have the pledge to change

To take it

Or leave down

But it is there

And

You know

For everyone



For the famous

And the not-so

Most of us who do

Only small things

But change the day

And altogether

Change the world



Because

You know

Change is endemic

It is human

It is spiritual



If need be

We have our aging cells

To prove it



If change

Then change

For the better

Starting

With the smaller

Hearing the larger

And supporting

As we hear

His words

As with progenitors

Successors



Happy Birthday

Martin Luther King

Junior

On fifteen January

Starting in 1929

And for the ages

And even

For

Into

Eternity



C L Couch





Martin Luther King Day is tomorrow, 15 January 2024



Photo by Frederic Bourbeau on Unsplash