Week Two - In the Light

I had something completely different planned. By "planned" I don't just mean I had another idea for a song-- there was a whole recording, video, blog post, and email ready to go for a different song this week. And I scrapped it. I'm writing this in the late evening of January 21st into the early morning of the 22nd, after an inspiring and exhausting day at the Women's March on Washington.

I love this city. My childhood home (where I'm currently reposed) is less than a mile from the Beltway. The Parisian layout, the alabaster buildings offset by large swaths of green spaces, the culture and history at its epicenter: DC will always be my favorite.

But DC has a newfound soft spot in my heart after today's event, and I'm pulling an all-nighter if I have to in order to get this song and video to you ASAP.

​I tried to capture what it felt like to be there in the video. Special thanks to Lisa Archer and Molly Bargar for capturing some things I didn't, and to Kate Shanks for sending a clip of my hometown sister march in Ithaca, NY.

The words of the refrain come directly from an old Methodist standard-- a song I've sung so many times over so many years it is practically knitted to my blood. If you marched, in DC or another town, in body or in spirit, thank you. Thank you for being with us.

Lyrics:
I believe, I believe, I believe in who you are.
I believe, I believe, I believe in who you are.
So many years you sat on the sidelines
Thinking your silence was polite
And maybe it was, maybe it wasn't
Never mind it wasn't right
But we're all off the benches now, so hold tight.

And we are marching in the light of God

I believe, I believe, I believe in who we are.
I believe, I believe, I believe in who we are. 
Here we stand, with all our difference
Come to heal a common harm
Long lines in deep freeze, bus rides and belfries:
We are sounding the alarm
Shoulder to shoulder now, and arm in arm.

And we are marching in the light of God

I believe, I believe, I believe in who we are.
I believe, I believe, I believe in who we are.
Do you hear, the feet before us?
They are thundering through the square
With every voice a sign of victory
And every step a prayer
And the spirit is moving strong in the morning air.

And we are marching in the light of God

​I believe, I believe, I believe in who you are.

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