July 4th - On the Pulse of Morning

Monticello

In honor of the holiday weekend I am posting one of the most memorable inaugural poems I have heard in my lifetime. It is a long read, but Maya Angelou's words are golden wisdom, filled with hope for our nation.

On the Pulse of Morning
by Maya Angelou
spoken at President Clinton's Inauguration Ceremony in 1993

A Rock, A River, A Tree

Hosts to species long since departed,   

Marked the mastodon,

The dinosaur, who left dried tokens   

Of their sojourn here

On our planet floor,

Any broad alarm of their hastening doom   

Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,   

Come, you may stand upon my

Back and face your distant destiny,

But seek no haven in my shadow,

I will give you no hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than

The angels, have crouched too long in   

The bruising darkness

Have lain too long

Facedown in ignorance,

Your mouths spilling words

Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out to us today,   

You may stand upon me,   

But do not hide your face.