Me Thinks

No matter your political party, were you not taken by the appearance of a twenty-two year old reciting an original poem at the Inauguration of the President of the United States, and her animated and poised delivery? I was! Here are excerpts:

We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division

We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free

So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it  

("The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman, 2021)