Ballad of Birmingham

Ballad of Birmingham (1965)

Dudley Randall (1914-2000)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kk7ghmoQ6s

(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

The poem was set to music by Jerry Moore in 1967.

“Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?”

“But, mother, I won’t be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free.”

“No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
Aren’t good for a little child.”

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.

The mother smiled to know that her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.

“No, baby, no, you may not go,

For I fear those guns will fire.

And sing in the children’s choir.”

For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
“O, here’s the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?”