"THERE IS A RIVER"

“THERE IS A RIVER” Monday, March 20, 2017 By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman IN THE BOOK, “THERE IS A RIVER,” THE LATE, DOCTOR VINCENT HARDING, INVOKES THE “ROIL OF THE RIVER” IDIOMATICALLY , SYNOPTICALLY, TO CELEBRATE THE CONFLUENCES OF HUMAN MOVEMENTS. THAT “RIVER” RAISES UP MARK TWAIN AND JIM ON A RAFT IN THE MISSISSIPPI. THAT RIVER RAISES UP LANGSTON HUGHES’: “I’VE KNOWN RIVERS, ANCIENT DUSKY RIVERS. MY SOUL HAS GROWN DEEP LIKE THE RIVERS.” THAT RIVER ROIL RAISES UP “OLD MAN RIVER” OF BARITONE-THROATED PAUL ROBESON. THAT “RIVER’S ROIL” RISES, RAISES, EBBS, FLOWING RELENTLESSLY, REGALLY, INDIFFERENTLY ON. REDOLENT OF THE RUBICON OF SHAKESPEARE’S CAESAR IN HIS PLAY, “JULIUS CAESAR” OR THE GOSPEL AND SPIRITUALS’ “JORDAN RIVER”, OR THE MEXICANS’ “RIO GRANDE RIVER,” VINCENT HARDING’S AND DR. MARY FRANCES BERRY’S, METAPHORICAL, HISTORICAL BOOK , IS MUSICALLY MORE AKIN TO THE ICONIC “NILE RIVER” ANCIENTLY FLOWING, KNOWING, FROM WHENCE AND WHITHER ALL IS GOING.