Howdy and Happy Monday!!
Mother’s day of 2005 Jake gave me a book about Abraham Lincoln, A Commitment to Honor, A Unique Portrait in His Own Words. Jake had an eclectic taste in many things but I must tell you, I have spent many thoughtful moments in that book. The quote for this week is from there.
“Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prized liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing our own limbs to where them.”
This week’s well wishes are likely to find a lot of you traveling since July 4th falls right in the middle of the week. I hope you all have a safe and wonderful week, remembering and valuing the freedoms that are our birthright.
Sympathy
I know what the caged bird feels.
Ah me, when the sun is bright on the upland slopes,
when the wind blows soft through the springing grass
and the river floats like a sheet of glass,
when the first bird sings and the first bud ops,
and the faint perfume from its chalice steals.
I know what the caged bird feels.
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
till its blood is red on the cruel bars,
for he must fly back to his perch and cling
And the blood still throbs in the old, old scars
and they pulse again with a keener sting.
I know why he beats his wing.
I know why the caged bird sings.
Ah, me, when its wings are bruised and its bosom sore.
It beats its bars and would be free.
It’s not a carol of joy or glee,
but a prayer that it sends from its heart’s deep core,
a plea that upward to heaven it flings.
I know why the caged bird sings.
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
(Black American poet)
