Yesterday, the poet Samuel Menashe read some of his work at the 96th Street branch of the New York Public Library. Also on the bill and reading their own work were poets Ilya Bernstein, Jon Curley and Michael Heller. [Read more →]
It’s said to be the final song that Johnny Cash composed, titled “I Corinthians 15:55,” and the refrain goes like this:
Oh death, where is thy sting?
Oh grave, where is thy victory?
Oh life, you are a shining path
And hope springs eternal just over the rise
When I see my Redeemer beckoning me
The first two lines are the ones cited in the title, from St. Paul, but Paul in his turn was quoting Hosea 13:14 in that particular passage. As goes Scripture, so goes country music: The great lines are reused forever. Cash would have known well that he was invoking both the Old and New Testaments there, and the resonance of a promise that doesn’t fade.
This song is the fourth track and the heart of the new, posthumously-released Johnny Cash album, American VI: Ain’t No Grave
