Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

(Red on Maroon, Mural Section 4, 1959 by Mark
Rothko, 1903-1970, American artist)

The lines below, from a well-known Negro Spiritual, capture the deepest cruelty of slavery in America. The singer cries out in mournful agony about life as an object, an alien, denied any home anywhere.

The metaphor of a fatherless child would not carry the same meaning. Mothers and fathers give us different gifts.

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long ways from home,
A long ways from home,
True believer,
A long ways from home,
A long ways from home.

Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone,
Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone,
Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone,
Way up in the heav’nly land,
Way up in the heav’nly land,
True believer,
Way up in the heav’nly land,
Way up in the heav’nly land.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long ways from home,
A long ways from home,
True believer,
There’s praying everywhere,
There’s praying everywhere.

~ American, traditional

To listen to a performance by the great Marian Anderson, go to this link (you may have to cut and paste):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbAQGV1nUd8