Can you tell I'm proud?
I'll never forget her graduation ceremony. Sitting in the audience, I was nervously flipping through the program, not paying much attention to anything in particular. Time passed slowly, as more and more parents and loved ones filled the chairs facing the stage in front of the beautiful Wesleyan library. Eventually, things got under way.
And then ... that voice!
I recognized it instantly as that of a musical hero of mine, the venerable Patti Smith. Not more than a few words into her talk, I knew it was her. What more fitting a way to mark my daughter's college graduation than with the spoken words of this particular poet extraordinaire:
-
I was dreaming in my dreaming
Of an aspect bright and fair
And my sleeping, it was broken
In the form of shining valleys
Where the pure air rarified
And my senses newly opened
That the people have the power,
And where there were deserts,
I saw fountains and like cream the waters rise
And we strolled there together
And the leopard and the lamb
Lay together truly bound
I was hoping in my hoping
I was dreaming in my dreaming
God knows a purer view
But as I surrender to my sleeping
That the people have the power
To redeem the work of fools
Upon the meek the graces shower
And I believe that everything we dream
Can come to pass
Through our union we can turn the world around
For the people have the power,
Read the article in The Wesleyan Connection and watch the video here.
Of an aspect bright and fair
And my sleeping, it was broken
But my dream it lingered near.
Where the pure air rarified
And my senses newly opened
And I awakened to the cry.
The people have the power.
I saw fountains and like cream the waters rise
And we strolled there together
With none to laugh or criticize.
Lay together truly bound
I was hoping in my hoping
To recall what I had found.
God knows a purer view
But as I surrender to my sleeping
I commit my dream to you.
To redeem the work of fools
Upon the meek the graces shower
It’s decreed the people rule.
Can come to pass
Through our union we can turn the world around
We can turn the earth’s revolution.
The people of the power.
Graduates, you are the future, and the future is now.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
-
Read the article in The Wesleyan Connection and watch the video here.
-----
Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.
