STARTING WITH JOHN NEWTON, VERSE FOUR OF AMAZING GRACE

 

STARTING WITH JOHN NEWTON,

VERSE FOUR OF AMAZING GRACE

            “...he will my shield and portion be…”

Thoughts which rise up in me,

while singing—Me, who has his own

personal jeweler! Who makes me shields!

Newton admits here, that he will not,

will not, sleep, in this life.

He won’t sleep in this life. We,

we want

to sleep in this life.

To me, he’s admitting,

ok, confessing, he can’t sleep

now. He doesn’t say,

He is my shield and portion--

He hears.

He hears those chained

human beings—newly what?--slaved? How?

crying in the deck

(in the depths). Below,

that’s why we listen,

now, to Aretha, her Amazing

Crossing Time And the Atlantic,

or, remember Julie Betzing?

Singing with Greater Faith,

or, Pilgrim’s Rest Baptist in Yakima,

the only white girl gone joyful,

(and remember, I have my own jeweler,

my own shield maker.) Aretha’s

syllable count can be timed and verified.

You’d sing, too, as Leonard does,

Show me the place

where the word becomes a man,

like Mahalia does, she who showed

Aretha, and then Elvis,

(But Elvis only after you’ve been

soul-shocked cross-born

before Thomas A. Dorsey,

his Precious Lord, and listened

hard enough to say, He,

will be my St. Paul),

listen then, listen too,

to Harlem Gospel Choir,

Soweto Gospel Choir,

listen to Amazing Grace on your radio,

even George Jones. But first,

Archie Shepp’s for a weekend,

only that, his Amazing Grace,

opening only then to all of his Goin Home

for, say the rest of the time you’re in,

opening then to Shepp with Horace Parlan

and Trouble in Mind.

Nina Simone, by the way, only opened one show

with Amazing Grace. Stop on that.

(I’ve never heard it.) Then,

Hank Jones and Charley Haden can be heard

and witnessed, changing you, in a medley

Abide with me, Just As I Am, Amazing Grace,

on Steal Away—Thank God! His bones

don’t break on the keys! I’m listening now--

What a friend! What a friend! Now,

all our sorrows turn towards Shepp’s

My Lord, What a Morning,

And the phone rings.

Pick up. Pick up.

And even after listening to what came in

on the phone you have enough

left to bring what you brang,

because you did, you do

bring something to this,

something never been heard.

[for my friends Barry and Marty]

Jim Bodeen

22 April 2023