If you have yet to discover Maya Stein's wise and wonderful poems, you owe yourself a walk through her blog. She very graciously gave me the nod to publish the poem she sent round on January 20, the day of Barack Obama's inauguration, a poem that hit the perfect note for me at this new start, for me, my President the Chicagoan, and this country I've just rejoined. Maya's work miraculously appears in my inbox, free, every Tuesday, to lift, delight, move and inspire me. You can sign up, too, in the friendly little Ten Line Tuesday box at Maya's blog.
Inaugurations
Perhaps today is the first of many swearings in, a date
not just for our new president to occupy his office
but a reminder that we are each our own head of state,
the chief of our decision-making, responsible for keeping peace
with the neighbors while holding our private countries intact.
How would it be, then, to take an oath with a hand
held high, and re-pledge our commitment to preserve and protect,
to keep our borders open to fresh alliances, to spare the land
the razing of our spirit and all that self-destruction we're so capable of,
and to plant into the earth the belief in everything we love.
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