BALLAD

 

                                                             Musician
                                                              Incarcerated in
                                                             New York;
                                                             Great composer
                                                             Unjustly
                                                             Sentenced.
 

                                           I saw them take the musician away.
                                                    I saw it on TV,
                                           in black and white.  The police fed him
                                                    to the backseat of their car.
                                           His crime: being a black artist
                                                    in a white society.
                                           This man who shared such soulful sounds
                                                    as are by mortals rarely heard.
                                           Mozart and Bach roll in their graves;
                                                    a bird is caged.
 

                                           “What do you want,” the cop defended,
                                                    “safety or justice?
                                           That bass might be stolen; that sheet music might hold
                                                    government secrets.
                                           And what of the needles in his studio found?”
                                                    Where are his tracks?
                                           “I suppose you’ll say he was on insulin.
                                                    We saw that white girl;
                                           does he stab her with needles
                                                    to make her his slave?”
 
 

                                           Peace please.  If only you would
                                                    unstop your ears to hear.
                                           Hear the musician singing in his cage--
                                                    suppressed inside a cage.
                                           He sings for you, but you called
                                                    the police and complained.
                                           To thank you for pointing out such a dangerous man
                                                    they give you a reward.
                                           They take him to jail and clip his strings,
                                                    and break his wings and fingers.
 
 
 

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