I'm sitting on a gold mine

"Bring My Flowers Now"

Bring my flowers now, while I'm livin'
I won't need your love when I'm gone
Don't spend time, tears, or money
On my ol' breathless body
If your heart is in them flowers, bring 'em on

All the miles cast a long shadow
I'd take a couple back if I could
I'd've learned to play guitar
Told my daddy more I loved him
But I believe, for the most part, I done good

There's always sunrise and rainbows and babies
And the little things I cherish on my way
Even though one day
They'll bury me and Jessie Mae
I just know we're gonna ride again someday

Bring my flowers now, while I'm livin'
I won't need your love when I'm gone
Don't spend time, tears, or money
On my ol' breathless body
If your heart is in them flowers, bring 'em on

The days are long but the years are lightning
They're bright and they will never strike again
I wish I'd been a better friend
A better daughter to my mother
There's no goin' back when your back's against the wind

So if you got love, then you're sittin' on a gold mine
And you can't take it with you when you go
So don't wait to help your sister
Forgive your brother and your neighbor
We all think we got the time until we don't

Bring my flowers now, while I'm livin'
I won't need your love when I'm gone
Don't spend time, tears, or money
On my ol' breathless body
If your heart is in them flowers, bring 'em on
If your heart is in them flowers, bring 'em on

John Lewis, R.I.P.

Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation

By John Lewis

Mr. Lewis, the civil rights leader who died on July 17, wrote this essay shortly before his death, to be published upon the day of his funeral.

• July 30, 2020

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.

That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.

Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.

Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain.

Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.

You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.

---

John Lewis, the civil rights leader and congressman who died on July 17, wrote this essay shortly before his death.

Truer words were never spoke

A picture is worth 1,000 words.

Childe Hassam

Here I was all excited that in this Met Museum video on Childe Hassam I would finally find out how to pronounce his first name. You'll understand my disappointment when you click on the below. But that's the only disappointment - well that one & that the video is in black & white. I'd forgotten he was from Dorchester. :) And here is a collection of some of his paintings in color.

And if you'd like to see other artists the Met highlights, here's their youtube channel.

The youth of the world

And how they see us.

If ye love me

Thomas Tallis as sung by Jakub Józef Orlińsk a countertenor, but he sure can sing bass.

If ye love me

Keep my commandments

And I will pray the father

And he shall give you another comforter

That he

May bide with you forever

E'en the spirit of truth

I feel like this today