"Georgia on my Mind"

Georgia, Georgia.  .  .
was not on my mind this week,
Even though the genius who sang
That old sweet song faded forever
Into the California soil.
His death was overshadowed
by the death of a President,
But Ray Charles,
Like Ronald Reagan,
Personified the American Dream.
His story of Rags to Riches
Became an inspiration.
No, he never led a nation,
But lordy he ruled the piano!
And though he never tore down
Physical walls
He crumbled racial walls and musical
boundaries and barriers of blindness,
All the while with a deep, rich voice
Roughened from a hardscrabble
Childhood in the segregated South,
All the while swaying stiffly and smiling
Behind a piano that was as sightless
And unprejudiced as he was.
And when Ray passed quietly
In the cool of an early summer rain
Amid moonlight in the pines
And peaceful dreams,
I am sure that all roads led him back
To that place that lingered in his mind.  .  .
He who was blind
Since the age of seven
Now sees all.
And Georgia, Georgia.  .  .
Is just as clear, just as sweet
As he remembers it.