Thread by @gradydoctor

1/
A late afternoon at Grady

Her: "Do you know the words to the national anthem?"

That's what my last patient, a Grady elder, asked just before I got ready to leave her room on rounds one day. I’d just asked her if she had any questions for me.

This was not what I meant.

2/
Uggh.

Were we about to unpack the NFL controversy? I was already tired. I had a lot on my plate and had had some pretty fitful sleep the night before.

A discussion about the anthem? Now?

*internal face wipe*

I took a drag of air and sat back down.

3/
She must’ve read my face.

Her: “I ain’t talking ‘bout no spangled one, neither. I'm talking 'bout the negro national anthem.”

I smiled at how she annunciated the word “negro.” Then came a breath of relief when it registered.

Oh. That.

I sat a little taller and nodded.

4/
Me: "Yes, ma'am. As a matter of fact, I do." *beaming like a know-it-all child*
Her: *looking suspicious* "ALL of ‘em?"
Me: "Ma’am?”
Her: “You heard me. You know ALL 3 verses?”

She raised an eyebrow. No chance of getting off the hook with her.

Eek.

I unpuffed my chest.

5/
Me: “Uhhh. . .not all 3 by memory."
Her: "Well, you need to learn 'em ALL by heart.”

*silence*

Her: *pointing at me* “'Specially that last one.”

I puffed my cheeks out, squinted, and tried to comb my brain for the words to verse 3.

Nada.

Me: “Dang. I used to know them.”

6/

My mind wafted back to my years as a surly middle schooler. Our class had been charged with singing “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson for a Black History Week program.

But only verse one. Easy enough.

Right? Right.

7/
But then I came home and made the mistake of telling my HBCU-educated, always-wanting-their-children-to-do-more-than-the-minimum parents about it. And somehow learning “verse 1 only” became verses 1,2, AND 3.

Uggh.

Middle school me was not pleased.

8/
It’d come in handy a decade later as I stood on stage during convocation as a student leader at Tuskegee.

But.

I hadn’t had much practice with those latter verses beyond that.

I did, however, sing verse 1 often. And even taught it to my kids.

So there was that at least.

9/
My patient gave me a half smile and blinked slowly. Then she spoke in her low, gravelly voice.

Her: “See that first verse tell you to make a joyful noise from how far we come.”

She patted her bosom.

Her: “And to stay hopeful.”
Me: *nodding and quietly recalling the words*

10/
Her: “Then the second one tell you not to forget the past, see. So when you feelin’ like you cān’t make it? Hear them words and KNOW. Your people overcame far worse than whatever you got goin’ on.”

I thought about my first-world fretting then night before.

Whew.

11/
Her: “Ohhhh but last one is my favorite 'cause it tell you to give GLORY! ‘Cause you come from a RESILIENT people!"

Her voice bellowed and her cheeks shook on that last sentence.

Even though I couldn’t remember verse 3, I knew this was the truth.

I could feel it.

12/
After a few beats, I pulled out my iPhone and punched in "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Lyrics" into a Google search.

Then I turned the screen to show her the words.

Me: "Want me to read it?"

13/
Her: "Yes. But READ it, not sing it, hear?"

*laughter*

Me: “Oh trust me, you don’t want me singing.”
Her: “Naw—it ain’t that. I want you to READ it so you can really feel the words, see.”
Me: *nodding* “Yes, ma’am.”

I slipped on my reading glasses and began to read.

14/
Me:

"Lift ev’ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.”

Her: *nodding and smiling*

15/
Me:

“Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on ‘til victory is won.”

Her: *listening*

A nurse stood still and listened, too.

16/
Then came verse 2.

Me:

“Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died

Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?”

I felt my breath hitch and my eyes stinging.

17/
Her: “You okay. Keep going.”

Me:

“We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered

Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.”

18/
I paused in silent deference before verse 3. She closed her eyes.

Me: *slowly*

“God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.”

19/
Suddenly, she started banging her hand firmly on the tray table. I jumped—then, following her tempo, raised my voice and continued:

Me:

“Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;”

20/
Now she was waving her fingers in the air like a conductor. I recited those words even louder. I sure did. That nurse tapped his foot.

Me:

“Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land!”

21/
By the time I read that last stanza, I was full on weeping.

Her: *sighs* “Amen!”

She waved a hand to the heavens and shook her head hard.

Her: “Let yourself feel it.”

We sat for a few moments in quiet reflection. Then, a moist sniffle broke the silence.

22/
A loud, raspy voice spoke from the other side of the curtain.

Neighbor: “That make me want to CRY!”

It was clear that she already was.

My patient turned her head toward the voice and smiled. Then she looked back back at me, her doctor.

23/
She patted her ample chest again.

Her: "Not me. Make ME want to SHOUT."

Hallelujah, man.

People ask why I love Grady so much. THIS is why.

THIS. THIS THIS THIS.

Damn, I love this job.

#thisisGrady #blackhistory #amazinggrady #loveisthewhat