Poems - Part Two

“Self-Image So Far” by Kyla Jamieson

Like the allegory

Of the cave but a girl

Seeing only her shadow

On the bottom

Of the outdoor pool

Never the pattern of light

Rippling across her back

“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

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 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 just-ice.

And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it

Somehow we do it

Somehow we 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 that we are striving to form a union that is perfect.

We are striving to forge our union with purpose

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colours, characters and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gaze 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.

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 won’t lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we’ve made

That is the promise to glade

The hill we climb…if only we dare.

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 we 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 sunbaked 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.

“Peace Will Come” by Tom Paxton

Peace

Peace will

Peace will come

And let it begin with me

We

We need

We need peace

And let it begin with me

Oh, my own life is all I can hope to control

Oh, let my life be lived for the good

Good of my soul

Let it bring

Peace

Sweet peace

Peace will come

And let it begin with me