Ballad of
Birmingham
(on
the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama,
1963)"Mother dear, may I
go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?"
"No, baby,
no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jail
Aren't good for a little child."
"But
mother, I won't me alone.
Other children will be with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free."
"No, baby,
no, you may not go,
For I fear the guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children's choir."
She has combed
and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.
he mother
smiled to know her child
Was in her sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.
For when she
heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.
She clawed
through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
"Oh, here's the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?"
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