Lyrics I Have Been to the Mountaintop - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world.
And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me
"Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land.
And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.
I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus.
And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon.
And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality.
But I wouldn't stop there.
I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire.
And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders.
But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man.
But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even go by the way that the man for whom I am named had his habitat.
And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five thesis on the door at the church of Wittenberg.
But I wouldn't stop there.
I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.
But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation.
And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but "fear itself." But I wouldn't stop there.
Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say
"If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy." Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up.
The nation is sick.
Trouble is in the land; confusion all around.
That's a strange statement.
But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding.
Something is happening in our world.
The masses of people are rising up.
And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee -- the cry is always the same:
"We want to be free." And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it.
Survival demands that we grapple with them.
Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace.
But now, no longer can they just talk about it.
It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.
That is where we are today.
And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and done in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed.
Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding.
And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis.
I can remember --
I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho.
And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable."
It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles -- or rather 1200 feet above sea level.
And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road.
In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know
It's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around.
Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking.
And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure.
And so the first question that the priest asked -- the first question that the Levite asked was
"If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by.
And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not
"If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?"
The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is
"If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.
Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination.
And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be.
We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.
You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written.
And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up.
The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?" And I was looking down writing, and I said, "Yes."
And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital.
It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery.
And once that's punctured, you're drowned in your own blood -- that's the end of you.
It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died.
Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out
To move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in,
And from all over the states and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget.
I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said.
I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said.
But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School.
And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply
And she said
While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I'm a white girl.
I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died.
And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze.
And I want to say tonight -- I want to say tonight that I too am happy that I didn't sneeze.
Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters.
And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream
And taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1961, when we decided to take a ride for freedom and ended segregation in inter-state travel.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up.
And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent.
If I had sneezed -- If I had sneezed I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, to see the great Movement there.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been in Memphis to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering.
I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.
And they were telling me --. Now, it doesn't matter, now. It really doesn't matter what happens now.
I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us.
The pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane"
And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully.
And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."
And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land.
I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!