Because Roxanne shares a birthday with Martin Luther King and has a special reason for loving opera, I humbly post an MLK Day tribute to the great operatic contralto,
Marian Anderson.
Marian Anderson as photographed by Richard Avedon
Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.
If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus and say, "He died for all."
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.
Don’t ever feel discouraged, for Jesus is your friend;
And if you lack for knowledge, He’ll never refuse to lend.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.
~There Is a Balm in Gilead/African American Spiritual
Bonnie and Roxanne by Caravaggio
(Mary Magdalene Condemning Martha's Vanity)*
Detroit Institute of Art
*It's your birthday, Roxanne - I'm Martha.
22 comments:
I love seeing life through Roxanne's eyes. It is a blessing.
And so is this post.
You are an incredible lady. I kept coming back here to see if your post was up. I have met many friends through Melange, and I'm so thankful for that, and I count you as one of those...
Opera, ughh. I've enjoyed singing that spiritual in church, but there are many African-American spirituals I enjoy. My goal is to burn a CD of them.
I had a good comeback for one of the partisan comments you made on my blog, but it doesn't seem timely or funny anymore. Trust me though, it was a good one. Consider yourself zinged.
Bonnie, thank you for your kind and lovely words... and how on earth did you know that that was one of my favorite songs? Both my grandmothers would hum and sing that song while working in the kitchen. I think it and "Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho" are the two I favor most.
It has been a wonderful day.. a phone call from said opera star brother, between rehearsals in Dresden. A table tripod, 2GB memory card for the camera and sterling garnet earrings from Nyssa and a wonderful sweater set from Mom and Dad. Nyssa cooked supper and Angel Food Cake with Fluffy White Frosting to top it off.
And this Caravaggio! One I haven't seen but knew it was his painting. It still takes my breath away to see the faces of his subjects, the light like an inner glow and so real, they could step off the canvas.
Bonnie, I would gladly age a year every day if it meant we would be graced by your beautiful thoughts in writing on a regular basis again. You bring light and culture to a world that sorely needs it.
Thank you!
Beautiful post!
I was so touched by the pictures and words.
Thank you.
Happy Birthday Roxanne!
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) hugs
(")_ (")Š from
the Cool Raggedy one
Oh, what a splendid card you write! Ms. Roxanne is, indeed (perhaps literally, too) the cat's pajamas. She has a beautiful eye on the world and the spiritual and a hunk of a cat to boot. Happy happy day to dear Roxanne. (Speaking of hunks, did you get a load of that picture of brother Stephen?)
Stunning photograph- it reminds me that I have the new Annie Liebovitz book of photographs back in Chicago. I think I'll go and fetch it.
I'm clamouring for an appearance at the Lyric by Roxanne's brother- would't that be a fine occasion for kindred bloggers to meet? And we won't let Dave come.
When is your birthday, dear Belle? I could easily drum up a reproduction of Watson and the Shark and some little poem or other...
That there Roxanne is quite a looker. And what do you call a dress like that? Boob-crack?
Embalmingly yours,
Ol' Hoss.
I thought you had fled the blog world never to return. I'm glad I checked. Now I can put you back into the active file, no?
Oh man. You kill me with the WEEKS of silence, then a sudden sneaky post that I miss because I haven't been checking in.
Roxanne is lovely, and I am honored that she visits me.
You are lovely, too.
Do me a favor and change your blogger settings so that I can add your feed to my bloglines.
Hoss - Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.~Congreve
Excellent!
I'm glad you are posting once in a while. by the way, I found a blog that I think you would love - ruthlace.blogspot.com. she is an older woman who write alot about her personal history. It's really great and it was a weblog finalist for best diarist.
Nancy - Thank you for connecting me to the beautiful Ruth! I love reading personal histories and her writing is wonderful.
Double hugs to those sweet twins!
Why must you torment us like this?
Here's a website for you, yoga mama.
http://www.itsybitsyyoga.com/
You're killing me here.
I thought that someone else might reveal their birthday and entice lovely Bonnie to grace us with more culture and music and her wonderful words...
Bernadette, Just coming over to say thinking of you and hoping all is going well and all is all right.
: )
I went to the yoga studio this morning but the teacher was sick. So I went home and spent the morning doing laundry while watching Lost In Translation, which I liked much better the second time around..
I just read and laughed at your comment at Mamacita's blog. If you have the time to be so clever in your comments, can't you do an elegant post? I love reading your comments on many blogs. I wish I had your quick wit. :-)
Bonnie, thanks for the visit and the nice comment. I really do wish you'd post again.
I read at Kenju's place your "baby" just had a birthday.
Give her an extra birthday hug from us.
I must say your comments are almost as exquisite as your posts, just the beautiful artwork is missing. I just came here from Vicki's.
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