*the featured poem is a RECOMMENDED READ TO THE END TYPE OF SITUATION*
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The Hill We Climb
Mr. President, Dr. Biden,
Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans and the world:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this
never-ending shade?
The loss
we carry
a sea we must wade.
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet, isn't always peace
And the norms and notions of what just is
isn't always justice
And yet, the dawn in hours before we knew it
somehow we do it
somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished.
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 yes, we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is
perfect--
We are striving to forge or union with purpose,
to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors,
characters and conditions of man--
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 put our differences aside
we lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
we seek harm to none and harmony for all
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.
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
and no one shall make them afraid
if we're to live up to our own time
then victory wont lie in the blade
but in all the bridges we've made
that is the promised glade
the 'hill we climb'
if only we dare it
because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it's the past we step into
and how we repair it.
We've seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded,
but while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth,
in this faith we trust
for while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
this is the era of just redemption
we feared at its inception
we did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
to offer hope and laughter to ourselves
so while once we asked
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
now we assert
how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
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.
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
if we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children's birthright
so let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
we will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
we will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sun-baked south
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.
written and spoken by Amanda Gorman, 2021
National Youth Poet Laureate
