Thursday, October 27, 2011

I'm gonna hear 'em sing

"I ain't gonna baptize. I'm gonna work in the fiel's, in the green  fiel's, an' I'm gonna be near folks.  I ain't gonna try to teach 'em nothn'.  I'm gonna try to learn.  Gonna learn why the folks walks in the grass, gonna hear 'em talk, gonna hear 'em sing.  Gonna listen to kids eatin' mush.  Gonna hear huban' an' wife a poundin' the mattress in the night.  Gonna ear with em' an' learn."  His eyes were wet and shining.  "Gonna lay in the grass, open an' honest with anybody that'll have me.  Gonna cuss an' swear an' hear poetry of folks talkin'.  All that's holy, all that's what I didn' understan'.  All them things is the good things."
Ma said "Amen."

A quote I wrote down while reading the "Grapes of Wrath".  It's what Casey (the preacher) is going to do once he gets to California.  I love it because to me it's so surprising - the thought of someone who has spent their life telling people what to do and what's right all of a sudden wants to start learning from them instead.

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