Saturday's Song

This Saturday's Song is a little different from the others. No video or sound, just lyrics. This is a song that has been on my heart all month. A song that I learned and sang as a little girl, and being that I attended a HBCU, sang very often as a teenager and young adult. I haven't sang this publicly in a while, but I can still hear the organ playing this song in my mind. Here are the words:

Lift Every Voice And Sing

Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet, Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last, Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way,
Thou who hast by Thy might, led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand, True to our God, true to our native land.

by James Weldon Johnson and R. Rosamond Johnson

This song symbolizes the struggles that we have have gone through, the victories we have accomplished, and the work that still needs to be done. Let's not forget! We cannot become complacent or apathetic. Let's strive to do more, keep pushing for progress, and keep trusting God to lead, guide and protect us.

Enjoy your weekend!

Keisha