Brother Martin

Brother Martin was a man, an American and a Christian.
He was my countryman, my fellow citizen.
His crusade for Human Rights was two-fold;
-to lift the burden of bigotry from the shoulders of black people
-to lift the burden of hostility from the shoulders of white people.
His desire was to set us all free.
And the world was his house of worship,
and the people were his congregation,
and I believe that, had we met,
he would have been willing to speak to me,
that the color of my skin would not have been a barrier to him.
There were times when the burden of his work
weighed heavily upon him.
He had to rest but, he could not rest;
there was so much work for him to do.
And I wonder, were there times when all he really wanted
was to be a husband to his wife and a father to his children?
But, the Creater of us all needed him to be elsewhere.
And sadly, his work is not quite done.
For, although some progress has been made,
there is still anger and fear across the land.
I am sorry, Brother Martin,
our journey is not yet over.
We still have a way to go,
before we reach the promised land.