Set to satisfy the seasons
Separated by the sun
So arranged for cosmic reasons
Time goes on its measured run
Constant in the even distance
Between ages it reflects
As it designates each instance
Tells one moment from the next
In predictable proportions
Upon which all may depend
Time proceeds, free from distortions
Throughout life from end to end
As a force to figure frequency
By which movements are controlled
The determiner of sequence
In which all events unfold
The translator of gyrations
On which none of us could count
Into regular vibrations
Of a definite amount
Time is too fast to out race it
Far too vast to disappear
And with nothing to replace it
Time is always now and here
Proving equal to the challenge
In an ever changing race
Time provides the proper balance
Through which God delivers grace
But, though to all souls and nations
Time affords a common claim
To sequences and durations
All do not respond the same
Those from regions raw and frigid
Most mark time mechanically
Making movements stiff and rigid
Or they may grow panicky
In awkward anticipation
Of embarrassing defeats
Any time some syncopation
Comes to complicate life's beats
Unlike folk from more lush regions
Never so severely taxed
By cold winter's bitter legions
Who lived lives far more relaxed
Who had time to fully pleasure
In the tropics where they trod
Opportunity to treasure
And store up the Grace of God
Treasure then transported with 'em
From its source; from Africa
Smuggled in the form of rhythm
Slipped into America
In black bodies being bidden
Upon awful auction blocks
There the Grace of God came hidden
All among the slaver's stocks
Infiltrating the plantations
Seeping deep into the soil
With work songs and lamentations
They took time to temper toil
Making holy applications
Of their godly gift of grace
Spiritual supplications
Emanated from the slaves
And with slavery terminating
In a savage Civil War
They continued in creating
Music never heard before
Drawing on the syncopated
Feelings of a bygone day
When the drum's beat dominated
They began to sing and play
Serenades far more entrancing
Than any the world had known
Music that demanded dancing
As its tempo set its tone
They took Europe's tuned inventions
Piano, woodwind, and horn
Into African dimensions
From which unique sound was born
Sound that proved to be most moving
As it swung around the earth
Improvising and improving
Adding richly to its worth
To be in the moving presence
Of such swinging sound, of course
Focuses upon the essence
Of a profound moving force
All music is regulated
By this cosmic force sublime
Sounds and silence alternated
In relationships to time
Any time when subdivided
Into pleasing moving parts
Is part of the time provided
From the time life's movement starts
Making lifetime seem most pleasant
It is easily believed
Has to be the foremost present
Ever given or received
So in time the people gifted
With the Grace of God have found
Countless millions are uplifted
By this force of swinging sound
Like that Afro daughter moving
Delicately dancing feet
Or her running brother proving
He is a superb athlete
Call their talents balanced quickness
Agile equilibrium
Smooth, efficient innate "slickness"
Lithe and lively it's become
Dancing as their "bounden" duty
Undulating bodies turn
Celebrating basic beauty
Make it easy to discern
But discerning, some still fear it
Sticking to a solid stance
Stiffly stifling gracious spirit
Seldom granting grace a chance
Having seized the time and took it
On a European trip
They reshaped the world and shook it
In their most mechanic grip
Storming out of dungeon dwellings
Dark and stark as open graves
Warriors in numbers swelling
Burst from European caves
Venturing down fjord and river
Vikings with a vicious stroke
Found new techniques to deliver
Violence to distant folk
Building bloody reputations
Widely known to go berserk
Devastating civilizations
Once they went to warring work
Driven from the cold to conquest
They descended in a one
Sided military contest
On those laid back in the sun
Never daring to be neighbors
To those of a differing breed
Europeans became slavers
Given to ungrateful greed
Those whom nature turned on coldly
Were by nature turned as cold
So they took the world on boldly
First to have and then to hold
Which continues to this minute
Europeans, still uptight
Claim our time and all that's in it
Theirs to run with all their might
But their might has the potential
To destroy humanity
What we face today essentially
Is mass insanity
Among those who seem to cherish
Threatening with their nuclear blasts
All the people who would perish
Were such time to come to pass
Countless millions of the faces
Born to share this time of life
Would be wiped from countless places
Should it come to nuclear strife
How long do we have to cower
Being threatened and suppressed
By some military power
That proclaims its way is "best"
And enforces this opinion
Violently as they do
Which is how they gain dominion
Over me as well as you
How long before some untimely
Action makes it "action time"
And the nuclear powers sublimely
Perpetrate the final crime
For regardless of the glories
Of old battles lost or won
Few will live to tell their stories
Once this next " World War" gets done
Too few to repair the damage
And destruction it would bring
Therefore, we must somehow manage
To prevent that happening
Fashioning times far more gracious
Than those Europeans know
We'll discover time can take us
Right to where we have to go
Where in time we will learn music
Known to soothe the savage breast
Is our weapon, if we use it
To lay dangerous times to rest
So the trials and tribulations
Which these trying times have wrought
Can give way to sweet vibrations
In which harmonies are sought
Swing is the harmonic motion
Governing the Universe
It must be the healing potion
We apply against the curse
We will remain living under
Until we get our times right
To prevent another blunder
Into European might
Music will unite the offspring
Of those stole from Africa
Music is the blessed offering
We gave to America
Where the guns of Europe held us
In captivity so long
That the Grace of God compelled us
To transcend slavery in song
Music will provide a focus
Upon which the world can fix
Music has some hocus pocus
To make up a magic mix
That will uplift human spirit
And inspire the heart and soul
Influencing all who hear it
And come under its control
To keep time in close connection
With life's Universal laws
Is the only sound protection
Human beings have because
Set to satisfy the seasons
We receive under the sun
So arranged for cosmic reasons
Time goes on its measured run
Proving equal to the challenge
In an ever-changing race
Time provides the proper balance
Through which God delivers grace
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