Buffalo soldiers

Last night friends Caitilin, Nancy and I took our girls to the main library to see the one-man show "Buffalo Soldier" which was not quite as it was described. Professional stage actor Cedric Liqueur performed a collage of impersonation/speeches of several African Americans whom he calls his "Buffalo soldiers". One of them was of course a portrayal of Sergeant George Jordan, who was born a slave and at age 19 joined one of the African-American army regiments known as the buffalo soldiers. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service.

One of the highlights of the evening was his rendition of the nice poem below:

Longing
by Paul Laurence Dunbar

If you could sit with mebeside the sea to-day, And whisper with me sweetest dreamings o'er and o'er;
I think I should not find the clouds so dim and gray, And not so loud the wavescomplaining at the shore.

If you could sit with me upon the shoreto-day, And hold my hand in yours as in the days of old,
I think I should not mindthe chill baptismal spray, Nor find my hand and heart and all the world so cold.

If you could walk with me upon the strand to-day, And tell me that my longing love had won your own,
I think all my sad thoughts would then be putaway, And I could give back laughter for the Ocean's moan!