To a proud family, a mighty King was born

From the hallowed halls of heaven, he was torn

Planted safely in the core of a peach

A place under the sun where Auburn is sweet

A black metropolis back in 1929

On the 15th day of the year, it was his time

 

In the two-story Victorian home where he lived

He learned to love and he grew to give

Of powerful men, he was the next generation

To bring a message of peace to the entire nation

 

He would speak God’s word and classic poetry

An upstanding pillar he was and will ever be

Strengthened by a mother and grandmother’s love

Empowered by a divine side, connected from above

Mused by his powers and moved by his beliefs

Challenged by anti-muse, the countless lying thieves

 

He finished high school at a tender fifteen

Then graduated Morehouse with his first degree

A theology seminary by the name of Crozer

Was his home for three years and brought him closer

To Boston, where he would earn his third degree

And meet the matriarch of his own family

An artistic and intellectual woman I see

With four children proudly standing

 

A pastor, he became in 1954

A crusader for justice knocked on Jim Crow’s door

He was the shepherd to a flock on Dexter Avenue

Where he preached against hatred and abuse

I can hear the angels sing: the torch was passed

He saw the day when we all would be free at last

 

I was not there when he was relegated

To the rear of establishments, so segregated

I was not there when the walking began

For 382 days against the unlawful ordinance

I was not there when they bombed his home

But I know that he and his family were never alone

 

As Jim Crow suffered from a blackened eye

King traveled and spoke over two thousand times

Each message carefully crafted was divine

The marches he led brought sight to the blind

From the Birmingham Jail to Time Magazine

This Nobel Peace Prize winner was a mighty King