I will hear the bird sing...

There will be late nights and early mornings

and entire days where you feel like your efforts are not enough.
There will be days where you cross through the northern part of 
Tennessee into Louisville and your throat locks up
and you will be reminded of all that was lost,
and how “reminders” just aren’t enough.

There will be days where you long for things
to be ordinary again and then,
there will be days where you realize…

nothing was ever really ordinary at all.

Everything was always complicated and messy
and we were always living with the tension of
how far we have come and also,
how much further we have to go.

You will learn to live with the reality of both
the cross and the lynching tree
(“oh how they fight for love and freedom
but would they ever fight for me?”)

And you will learn to try to keep
your heart set on hope,
in the belly of never-ending grief,
and some glad morning
you will hear a bird sing.
A caged bird, but nevertheless,
you will hear her sing. 

You will grow tired.
You will grow weary.
But somewhere in the late night
or early morning,
your body will fall asleep.
You will continue to pray for rest.
Healing. Peace.

Oh, how far we have come.
Oh, how much further we have to go.
Oh, how we learn to live with the tension
of all we do and do not know. 

May this be the place
where we tune in
to the way heartbeats, whether heavily or softly,
may we continue this journey
until all
are free.

by MHN on my daily newsletter.