Farewell To Claudia Jones

 

Ballad To Claudia Jones

 

`Farewell To Claudia Jones'--(lyrics by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn)

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn poem/lyrics

Nearer and nearer drew this day, dear comrade,
When I from you sadly part
Day after day, a dark foreboding sorrow
Crept through my anxious heart.

No more to see you striding down the pathway,
Nor more to see your smiling eyes and face
No more to hear your gay and pealing laughter
No more to feel your love, in this sad place.

How I will miss you, words will fail to utter,
I am alone, my thoughts unshared these weary days,
I feel bereft and empty, on this dreary, gray morning,
Facing my lonely future, hemmed by prison ways.

Sometimes I feel you've never been in Alderson,
So full of life, so detached from here you seem,
So proud of walk, of talk, of work, of being,
Your presence here is like a fading dream.

Yet as the sun shines now, through fog and darkness,
I feel a sudden joy that you are gone,
That once again you walk the streets of Harlem,
That today for you at least is Freedom's dawn.

I will be strong in our common faith, dear comrade,
I will be self-sufficient, to our ideals firm and true,
I will be strong to keep my mind and soul outside a prison,
Inspired by ever loving memories of you.

`Ballad To Claudia Jones' (lyrics by Label Nibur)

Label Nibur's poem/lyrics:

There's a woman who walks this might land
With a queenly grace goes she
In her struggles she never stands alone
For look at her company.

Harriet Tubman is at her side
"Good cheer, Claudia," cries she
"The slavers also wanted my head
But our brave people still fought free."

John Brown is with her wherever she goes
And his voice rings clear as a bell
"I died to uphold the spirit of equality
Defend it till the freezing of Hell."

And the martyred Nat Turner is here with her too,
Staunch Nat with never a doubt
"I staggered the slavers of my day, Daughter,
Defeat yours and knock them out."

And giant and tall against the wall,
Denmark Vessey speaks out his mind
"I defeated the cruel masters of my day, Daughter,
Finish off their modern kind."

Fred Douglass and Garrison are here with her too,
And the people of every land
Stand shoulder to shoulder with Claudia Jones
She speaks...and they understand.