"Mountaintop"

I've been to the mountain.
I've climbed the heights.
I've stood at the peak,
And I've looked through the gates.
And I've seen the glory of the Lord.
And I've seen the fullness of joy.
And my eyes have looked upon His peace,
and the brotherhood of love,
and the clasping hands of many colors,
and the hugs of ancient enemies.
I've heard the voices one in praise,
the songs and hallelujas ringing,
the songs in which sour notes never sound,
and beauty thrilled my soul.
I stood in the clouds of fragrance.
I basked in the everlasting light.
I've been to the mountain.
I've been to the mountain.
I know the way it all ends.
I've been to the mountain.
But I'm not on the mountain,
That's not where I stand.
That's not where I walk.
That's not what's around us.
I walk in the valley.
I walk in the darkness.
I walk in the shadow of death,
and I see the darkness,
and I see the anger,
and I see the fighting,
and I hear the cries of the wounded,
and the moans of the hungry,
and the wails of the mourning,
and the songs that shriek despair,
the bondage of a sinful world,
the bondage of a selfish world,
the bondage of a false and destroying freedom,,
of the greed of the rich,
of the covetousness of the poor,
of the scorn of oppressors,
of the rage of the oppressed.
I've been to the mountain.
I walk in the valley.
I've seen the promised land,
I have not entered in.
But there is hope.
There is peace to be found.
There is joy to be reached.
And there is love.
There's a long road to walk.
There's hard work to do.
But the Master's calling.
I'm going
I've been to the mountain.
I'm going back.
Let us climb.

...by ed pacht

(Dr. Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks above)
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(A New World is Born.)