“Float Like a Butterfly”

I enjoy reading the daily snippets I receive on my Microsoft Start page. In addition to sometimes fascinating information, I also get redeemable points for opening some of the articles. I always take note of the “This Day in History” piece. Last Sunday, April 28, the headline was “Muhammad Ali refuses Army Induction.”

Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, on January 17, 1942, three days before me. (It was a very good year!) He was a larger-than-life character, known worldwide for his brilliant career in the boxing ring. Transcending that, he became a civil rights icon, respected and loved for his ongoing fight for justice and equality.

Seeing the headline reminded me vividly of a performance I recently saw. A Standing Witness is a song cycle created in a collaboration between Rita Dove, former US Poet Laureate, and composer, Richard Danielpour. It is performed by mezzo-soprano, Susan Graham, accompanied by a chamber ensemble.

Concert notes describe it as an “Overview of the beauty and misery that has been the history of America.” There are fourteen songs, “Testimonies,” and one instrumental elegy. The subjects of the Third Testimony are Vietnam, the bombing of Cambodia, and Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted into the military.

Of the fourteen testimonies, that one was among those I found particularly stirring. Copyright laws prevent me from reprinting it in its entirety here. But I will quote the first and last lines. After a refrain that is repeated before each stanza, it begins:

            “Black man’s got no business being
            both pretty and bold…”

And ends:

“Swat him down, pin him to the mat!
And so they mutter, hell-bent on keeping
their own destiny unscathed
and brazenly manifest.”

With that, a nod to “The Greatest,” who did not allow himself to be pinned down. May he rest in peace and forever float in our memories.