Song for a wonderful man

25 May 2009 door Martien

Een bijdrage van Gerrit Vennema, dichter/ componist-tekstschrijver te Den Haag.
Dear people,
Here's my contribution to the cause of nonviolence that I heard Mr. Arun Gandhi talk about at The Hague's Nutshuis on May 22, last.

Afgelopen 22 mei sprak ik Cees de Groot in Het Nutshuis te Den Haag tijdens de bijeenkomst met dhr. Arun Gandhi.

Vele jaren geleden schreef ik bijgevoegd gedicht/songtekst over het leven van Mahatma Gandhi. Het werd in 1986 overhandigd aan zijn neef bij de onthulling van M.G.'s standbeeld op Union Square in New York.

Wellicht kan het ook een rol spelen in de bewustwording van nonviolence die Arun Gandhi nastreeft.

Hierbij mijn toestemming het op de website te plaatsen.
(Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's life's story)

Let us hear a song of glory,
noting not a song of praise;
for the subject of our story
was a man who knew his place.

At the age of about twenty
he was forced to make a stand,
humiliated for his colour,
working in a foreign land.

"Let us burn our racial passes,
even if we're beaten sore."
Thus they'd heard him preach and practice
when he reached his native shore.

There he met with new oppression
and was shocked by what he saw;
if it serves a cause of justice
it's no crime to break the law.

"Let us have a day of prayer
that will make a day of strike,
for to show our dominators
what things really should be like."

Countless feet were set in motion,
not to stop throughout the land;
not until they'd reached the ocean
and the salt shone in his hand.

After years of talk and bloodshed
they did finally grant his plea:
it was only their departure
that could set his country free.

At the age of nearly eighty,
he was still prepared to starve
for the sake of both religions
and on either side's behalf.

But his people were divided,
he could hardly make them stop;
till one man's fanatic bullet
sent his weary spirit up.

Let's not worship him as martyr,
nor declare ‘A saint was he';
but remember his example
of how wonderful man can be.

Geplaatst in Den Haag