Sunday Inspiration: We will rise…

we will rise

“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”

I was amazed and deeply moved by Amanda Gorman’s reading of her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at the Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris (you can find the entire poem here). Gorman is the 22 year old Youth Poet Laureate for our nation, and a young woman with an old soul. May we never forget that,
“…there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it”

4 Comments

  1. Pat Kennedy on January 24, 2021 at 8:02 am

    Thank you, Amanda, for those wonderful words. They give me hope. Bless you!

  2. Coelle Baskel on January 24, 2021 at 8:38 am

    I was so impressed, mesmerized and totally ‘taken’ during her reading of her poem. The grace of her hands and the clarity of her voice with the wisdom of her words………..WOW!!!

  3. DELORES on January 24, 2021 at 11:01 am

    Truly amazing. Inspiration from one so young!

  4. Lynn Ross on January 30, 2021 at 10:03 pm

    Thank you for sharing this, Emilie. I watched her read it at the Inauguration, but it was wonderful to read it for myself, too. It is so comforting to know we have such a beautiful and gifted young woman to help lead us to “…raise our wounded world…” in the near future.

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