An antidote to the news - Jon and Rhina read "The Jury"

April 22, 2026

An antidote to the news - Jon and Rhina read "The Jury"

“What moves people is not only anger or conflict.
Kindness, too, has that power.”
The Catman of Australia

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***(Illustration by Rockwell Kent from “Moby Dick”)***

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A few weeks ago when it looked like the world was going up in flames, a beam of light came to me, slicing through the darkness: two short videos, one from New York and the other from Newburyport.

But first...T-minus one month to go for my Philadelphia-Newburyport cycling odyssey. The donations have exceeded our wildest expectations; it has been all I can do to keep up with personally thanking everyone. We leave May 21^st and you can follow us on our journey in real-time with live tracking. (Seriously - you can follow where I am exactly on the route for that week, if you want, which I think is kind of neat.) We hope to see as many of you as possible at the greeting party when we roll into town on Wednesday, May 27^th (details to come).If you haven’t donated and would like to, please go to the link below.

Donate to David's NCMF ride from Philly to Nbpt

Where was I? Oh yes, I wanted to share a few precious minutes of joy. At the centerpiece of this summer we’ll have not one but two Great People: poet Rhina P. Espaillat and composer Jon Deak. They have collaborated on works for string quartet and soprano based on the poems “The Jury” and “Just Stopping.” I asked Jon and Rhina each to record “The Jury.” Have a listen and let the light come in.

**The Jury**‍
By Rhina P. Espaillat
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‍In a bare tree,four strangers gathered from afar
slipped into talk, as travelers do.
First Eagle said, “How strange they are,
these creatures lately come to climb
our cliffs and spy upon our brood.
They have no constancy, but drift
from mood to mood:

first, wanton slaughter, and now zeal
to build our hunted tribe again.
I cannot fathom them at all.”
“They are called Men,”

said Pigeon, “and I know them well.
I’ve learned their secret. All they use,
from day to day, to guide their steps,i
s just their shoes.

It’s true, my friends. In new spiked boots
yesterday’s farmer struts the street,
turned killer, and tomorrow dies
derelict, with rag-bound feet.

More out of sympathy than need,
I gather their spilled crumbs to know
toward what new grief
their wayward shoes would have them go.”

“And yet,” said Sparrow, “I have known
some who would leave their lighted nest
to scatter seed, through razor winds,
for our sake, lest

we hunger through December days.
I’ve seen them fling their gaze above
their comforts, to pursue us with
something like love.”

“True,” Vulture said, “for they love me
and have my welfare much in mind.
In Leningrad, in Lebanon
men were most kind
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and nourished me with their own young.
Vietnam, Verdun, Angola, Troy,
Thermopylae…the love of men
is my chief joy.”

“Well, that’s as may be,” Eagle said,
“but they are feeble things at best.
Condemned to winglessness, they creep
in their own shadow, flight-obsessed,

a sad smudge upon the earth,
half-willingly erased at last.
We will possess our own again,
when they have passed.

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Rhina reading “The Jury”
(click on the photo above. It should have the arrow-thingy
but for some reason it doesn't)

I was lucky enough to work with Jon last month in the Philadelphia premiere of “The Jury” (the world premiere was, of course, at NCMF in 2023). How fortunate we are to have them with us this summer.Jon and Rhina aren’t just amazing artists, but truly great human beings. They personify everything I consider at the heart of our festival. I’m honored to have the opportunity to celebrate our 25^th with people I care so much about and I hope you'll join me this summer.

‍David Yang, Artistic Director