Black Cross

by Joseph S. Newman


"Black Cross" was published in 1948 by Joseph S. Newman in a collection of poems entitled It Could Be Verse. The poet was Paul Newman's uncle, not his grandfather. He ran a sporting goods store in Cleveland, and wrote and published both as a poet and as a local journalist. His collection was published with an appreciative introduction by the critic Louis Untermeyer, so it was hardly unrecognized in its time, though it is hard to find today.

Lord Buckley probably met Newman at some time. He recorded two of the other poems in his collection, "Jehova and Finnegan" and "Leviathan" as well as one, "Shah's Embroidered Pants," that does not appear in the book.

"Black Cross" was also performed by Bob Dylan and has been preserved in bootleg recordings.

The original reads as follows:

Hezekiah Jones of Hogback County
Lived on a hill in a weather-beaten hovel
And all that he owned was a two-acre plot
And a bed and some books and a hoe and a shovel.

Hezekiah, black as the soil he was hoeing,
Worked pretty hard to make ends meet;
Raised what he ate, with a few cents over
To buy corn likker that he drank down neat,

And a few cents more that he put in the cupboard
Against what he called "de rainy season,"
But he never got to save more'n two or three dollars
Till he gave it away for this or that reason.

The white folks around knew old Hezekiah...
"Harmless enough, but the way I figger
He better lay off'n them goddam books,
'Cause readin' ain't good fer an ignorant nigger."

Reverend Green, of the white man's church,
Finally got around to "comin' ovah
To talk with you-all about the Pearly Kingdom
An' to save yo' soul fer the Lawd Jehovah!"

"D'ya b'lieve in the Lawd?" asked the white man's preacher.
Hezekiah puckered his frosty brow,
"Well I can't say 'yes,' so I ain't gonna say it,
Caze I ain't SEEN de Lawd... nowhere... no-how."

"D'ya b'lieve in Heaven?" asked the white man's preacher,
"Where you go, if you're good, fer yer last rewa'hd?"
"Ah'm good," said Hezikiah, "good as Ah'm able,
But Ah don't expect nothin' from Heaven OR the Lawd."

"D'ya b'lieve in the Church?" asked the white man's preacher.
Hezekiah said, "Well de Church is divided;
Ef they can't agree, than Ah cain't neither...
Ah'm like them... Ah ain't decided."

"You don't b'lieve nothin'," roared the white man's preacher.
"Oh yes Ah does," said old Hezikiah,
"Ah b'lieve that a man's beholden to his heighbash
Widout de hope of Heaven or de fear o' hell's fiah."

There's a lot of good ways for a man to be wicked...
They hung Hezikiah as high as a pidgeon,
And the nice folks around said, "He had it comin'
'Cause the son-of-a-bitch didn't have not religion!"

I've gotten the following in an email before, and at the time thought that it made a lot of sense. Maybe I've gotten older by just the right amount for it to strike home, but today it seemed worth repeating. Actually, no matter what one's age, I think it applies to most everyone I know.


Will You Dance With Me?

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY.... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have c clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect !

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet... We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord..

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-Decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home , I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to.....not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand and why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butter fly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask ' How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away..... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

It's National Friendship Week.. Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND. If it comes back to you, then you'll know you have a circle of friends...

To those I have sent this to... I cherish our friendship and appreciate all you do.

Life may not be the party we hoped for... But while we are here we might as well dance.

A Little Love Story

Actually, I submitted this to Classmates for last year's Valentine's Day story contest. How it didn't win, I just can't imagine. I thought it was pretty damn heart-warming.

Mackinac Proposal

Being a little skittish, after my first marriage, my unofficial engagement to my 'eventually-to-be' second wife was rather long--seven years to be exact.

After holding off for six years, I decided to officially and traditionally spring the question while we were on vacation at our favorite place in the world; Mackinac Island. We had vacationed on the Island, known for it's tranquility and absence of motorized vehicles, for all of those six years and it seemed the most appropriate spot for my proposal. I purchased the nicest custom diamond ring I could afford, months in advance, and began to plan my presentation.

When Summer was just about over, we left on our yearly excursion to the island. I put the ring, in it's elegant, velvet lined box, in one of the shoes that I had packed in my suitcase. My plan was starting to crystallize, as we took the catamaran across the straits from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island. I decided that when we got to the island I would put the ring in my camera case, which I took with me everywhere we went, to maintain the secrecy of my plan.

When we got to the hotel, I was notified that most of our luggage had been misplaced. Panic set in. Every negative scenario ran through my mind, including the loss of an expensive, and irreplaceable custom made diamond ring. Our favorite employee at the Iroquois Hotel, a great fellow named Keith, got on the problem immediately. He assured us that he would locate the luggage and have it brought to the hotel quickly. His confidence was infectious, and I left the matter in his hands.

Very soon after, the luggage was in our room (it had gotten on the wrong boat) and, when my Bonnie was in the washroom, I put the ring in my camera bag.

Traditionally, we took long walks from our hotel to St. Anne's Church, on the motor vehicle-free streets, taking time to stop by a small general store for a drink or snack. Across from the store, was a little green bench in front of the old Congregation Church. I told Bonnie that I needed to rest and get something out of my camera bag. When we sat down on the bench I took out the little box and handed it to her, without saying anything. My proposal of no words was immediately accepted by the surprised and pleased look on my Bonnie's face.

For the duration of our stay, it was a perfectly idyllic and serene vacation.