…And the one speck of hope that he left in the town,
Was a crumb much too small to stop Ferguson’s frown.
Then he did the same thing to the other folks towns’,
Pitting neighbor on neighbor and burning it down.
Leaving naught but despair in his racism wake,
As the nation caught on, “why he’s only a snake”.
Then a town in the South, it came under attack,
Their fine folks were murdered – the devil was back.
Oh, he relished the thought of those folks filled with rage,
“Why, it’s the ultimate audience for my racism stage”.
So he packed up his bags at a quarter to six,
And headed down South with his racism tricks.
“The anger, the rage, it’s my ultimate prize”,
The Grinchy-Ray said with such hate in his eyes.
“Why I know they’ll receive my most glorious schemes”,
The murderous thug having stolen their dreams.
It was quarter past dawn… All the folks, still asleep,
When he pulled into town like a glorious creep.
As he rode into town – his eyes filled with a glare,
He quick threw off his vest, and ANNOUNCED the despair.
“Oh, they’re just finding out now that this racism’s real”,
The Grinchy-Ray gleefully preparing his spiel.
“Soon, very soon, I shall have them all hate,
They’re discovering now, that my message is great”!
“They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!”
“Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
Then the folks down in Charleston will all cry BooHoo!”
“That’s a noise,” grinned Deray, “That I simply MUST hear!”
So he paused…. And Deray put his hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the town.
It started in low, then began to resound.
But the sound wasn’t bitterness, anger or hate,
Why, it sounded, it sounded,… well, it sounded like faith.
It couldn’t be so! But it WAS, fellowship tears,
He stared at the steeple, and heard through his own ears.
“How can this be so, I need them to despair,
Not to gather together in heavenly prayer”.
Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Charleston fellow, the tall and the small,
Was singing, was praying! Without racism all!
He HADN’T stopped HOPE from arriving! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
No Ferguson rage, and no Baltimore riots…
No hatred, no flames, it was much much too quiet.
“How can this be possible, these people who pray”,
And Deray, with his racism stood filled with dismay.
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?”
“Hope came with out anger! Hope came without rage!”
“Hope came without hatred, and absent my stage!”
And he puzzled for hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then Deray thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Hope”, he thought, “doesn’t come from a race.”
“Maybe Hope, just perhaps, is a colorless face!”
And what happened then? Well..in Charleston they say,
That Deray’s racist heart Grew three sizes that day!
And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight,
He dropped all his racism and let in the light.
It is rumored they say, Deray knelt with the Mayor,
And that he, YES HIMSELF said the very first prayer!
