The Passport

Image of Paul Robeson (1898-1976) by photographer Doris Ullman, courtesy Smithsonian Open Access.

I heard Paul Robeson in the mist,

Singing a song of the working man,

Singing a song of the Irish rebel,

Singing a song of the son of a slave.

And his voice twilight-boomed, mournful and strong,

So that the gray-headed cattails shuddered,

And the skinny reeds cowered,

And the crow and the lark were humbled into silence.

I heard Paul Robeson in the quaking bog,

Standing on the sinking right to travel,

Standing on the spongy arms of due process,

Standing on the murky edge of the Constitution.

And his mighty words thunder-marched,

Shaming the congressional cattails,

Exposing the flimsy rules of the judging reeds,

Persuading the birds to join him in a hymn

Of sorrow and salvation.

I saw Paul Robeson in the peat-mud,

Searching for his fleeting freedom,

Searching for his lost livelihood,

Searching for his pilfered passport.

But he was not alone.

There were the shapes of ghost lights,

The stubborn backs of miners,

The gaunt frames of the imprisoned,

The loyal legion of laborers,

Moving through the sphagnum moss,

Guided by the secret sky-songs,

Knowing that the bog retains,

what the river rolls past.

THE PASSPORT was composed in honor of the legendary American actor, attorney, civil rights activist, and singer, Paul Robeson (1898-1976). THE PASSPORT received second place recognition in the Friends of Volo Bog’s 2024 Peatland Poetry Challenge (Bog Culture Category).

The Passport, Copyright © 2024 by Donna Kathryn Kelly