The Strident Chant of Freedom

CHANT OF CHORAL VOICES
                  (Crescendo)

“Composers, singers, poets, musicians:
Restore us to be whole, you artists.
Instill in us sweet melody.
O restore us, you musicians.
Restore us with sweet sounding symphony.

Let freedom ring for all of us.
Unite us all with euphony.
O ye poets, lyrical chartists.
Restore us with your rhapsody.
Reform us with your odes of joy.
Restore us with sweet sounding symphony.
Dear Lord, reform us with your odes of joy.”


A triumphant march to human freedom
is what all artists seek.
Setting out by poetry, by musical scores,
to render us their symphonies.

A freedom song is what these artists give us.
A freedom song of love.
That we should love one another;
even as we are Godly loved.
That by this Godly act all shall know
we are our brothers’ keepers.

First, these two men, Schiller and Beethoven.
Seeking to remove verbal cacophony.
And in their acts of kindness
to replace all harmfulness with euphony.

From distempers of the soul and mind,
these two men seeking justice.
One through the voice of poetry.
The other with his global ode to joy.

Both ringing out sweet harmony,
in company with the ancient Orpheus.
A legendary poet of the trees and forests.
A musician and a prophet of nature.

He, Orpheus, in the Underworld,
reaching upwards to uplift us;
to uplift us to a heavenly realm;
to a realm free of bondage.

The lyrical score of freedom,
is what men of goodwill seek.
“Let freedom ring!”  A voice among us heard.
Yet another strident voice: “Free at last!”

This preacher now with fervent dream,
joining hands with others.
He, like all such men before him,
singing songs of freedom.

Beckoning us to love each other,
even as we ought to love ourselves.
To bestow dignity to every human being.
To thereby let sweet freedom ring.

Influenced by an Indian mystic,
a man of satyagraha’s force of truth;
this preacher marched for civil rights;
his march a march of civil disobedience.

Still yet another glorious warrior;
a freedom fighter of Soweto.
A man called Mandela;
whose whole life was poetic;
with these strident words to lift us up:

“The greatest glory in living…
lies not in ever falling…
but in rising every time we fall.”

A universal cry for freedom,
a global freedom cry of joy;
a cry echoed across the globe,
is the human thirst for freedom.

Schiller, Beethoven, Gandhi and Martin.
Mandela and yes, a prophet by the sea.
A humble man of Galilee.
All seeking freedom for humanity.

These men as prophets and philosophers.
These men as poets and composers.
These men in lyrical compositions.
All hailing us with wailing songs.

Yet another is to be remembered
with his Trench Town brand of music.
With his Reggae songs of freedom.
The locust voice of one called Marley.

Capped by his album “Songs of Freedom,”
he, too, would sing of brotherhood.
He, too, would sing of freedom.
He, too, would wail out odes of joy.

All these freedom warriors;
joined by a common goal:
to let freedom ring throughout the world;
to let there be peace;
and let it begin with each one of us.

The joy of freedom transcends pain.
This is the  joy that offers healing…
This is the joy of tender loving kindness…
This is the joy of sacrificial love.

Freedom songs implore the soul
to lift every voice and sing.
In genres of poetry and music,
freedom songs appeal as odes of joy.

Freedom songs as odes of joy.
Freedom songs to lift our spirits.
Choral symphonic freedom songs.
Tympanic Reggae freedom songs.

Gandhi, Martin, Mandela…
and the fisherman of Galilee.
All four of you did pay the price.
(Along with Malcolm X)
The ultimate price to grant us freedom.
You gave your lives to ease our suffering.

That is the precious joy you give.
That is your precious ode of joy.
Remembered well by Schiller and Beethoven.
Remembered so well by all of us.

The precious joy of sacrifice
is joy itself of harmony.
Distempers of the soul replaced by symphonies of the heart.
Distempers all erased by Reggae freedom songs.


ECHOING CHANT OF CHORAL VOICES
                      (Diminuendo)

“Composers, singers, poets, musicians:
Restore us to be whole, you artists.
Instill in us sweet harmony.
O restore us you musicians.
Restore us with sweet sounding symphony.

Let freedom ring for all of us.
Unite us all with euphony.
O ye poets, lyrical chartists.
Restore us with your rhapsody.
Reform us with your odes of joy.
Restore us with sweet sounding symphony.
Dear Lord, Reform us with your odes of joy.”
AMEN.