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Of These Things I Sing

Ask me not to sing of happiness, love, and pretty things of freedom, justice, equality, of wealth, even of friends’ loyalty. Doubt me not. Like you I have desired these, too, but their lyrics elude me, or, I haven’t had my share of whatever joy they bring. Thus, try as I want, I cannot compel my heart to sing of things it hasn’t known or it might go off-key for attempting too foreign a tune. Let me sing instead of cloudy skies and violent winds, of poverty, loneliness, cruelty, of hunger, cold, and misery. Believe me, these I am familiar with, their notes embedded deeply in the very fabric of my soul. I can compose an aria based on them which, when sung, can bind the arena in a spell, and my heart need not be impelled to do what it is most willing to intone. Yes, of these things, allow me to sing.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2024




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Book: Reflection on the Important Things