On hearing if Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination Thomas Merton wrote this poem:
April 4 1968 For Martin Luther King
On a rainy night
On a rainy night in April
When everybody ---
Said the minister
On a balcony
Of a hotel in Tennessee
"We come at once
Upstairs".
On a night
On a rainy night in April
When the shot was fired
Said the minister
"I've come at once upstairs
and found him lying
On the balcony <--- after="" nbsp="" p="" the="" tornado="">he came at once upstairs"
On a --- ---
he was our hope
and we found a tornado
said the minister.
And a well dreamed white ---
said the minister
Propped a telescopic storm
and he never
(the well-deemed minister of death)
ran
ran away
And on the balcony
Said the minister
found
even lonely dying.
<--- after="" nbsp="" p="" the="" tornado="">[I am totally unsure that I have transcribed Merton's words correctly. Please check the comments for much better transcriptions of Merton's writing.]
Thank you so much for this, Beth. Looks like the transcription's pretty darn good.
ReplyDeletethanks, Joaquin. It is interesting to see Merton's thought process in a moment like this.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this and for all your wonderful words on this blog. May I add my contribution to your transcription in the hope that others will also do so and enable us to find something like the core of what Merton was saying?
ReplyDeleteOn a rainy night
on a rainy night in April
when everybody ran
said the minister
on a balcony
of a hotel in Tennessee
"we came at once
upstairs"
On a rainy night
on a rainy night in April
when the shot was fired
said the minister
"we came at once upstairs
and found him lying
on the balcony ---- after the tornado
we came at once upstairs"
on a rainy night
He was our hope
and we found a tornado
said the minister
and a well dressed white man*
said the minister
dropped a telescopic ----
and he ran
(the well dressed minister of death)
he ran
he ran away
and on the balcony
said the minister
we found every body dying
* James Earl Ray was described as a well dressed white male by a witness who saw him running away.
THank you Hwitha!
Deletethank you - thank you
ReplyDeletelove collects all verities
blessings ----------------------
many thanks and blessings back, bob.
Delete