Remember This?

Here's a poem I wrote about the spirit that gripped our nation on Inauguration Day.  Now that the rubber is hitting the road - real legislative battles, criticism pro and con, and all the rest - it seemed like a good time to remember that spirit and that day.

January 20, 2009

A man walks down the oldest halls
and even the walls lean in to listen

to his footsteps Even the mirrors turn away
from faces of long years, and watch him go out

And even the wind holds its breath
for the roar of the crowd And even the children

strain to hear the story he tells to the years
gone by and the years to come And even the ghosts

on aging battlefields hold still as he raises
his right hand And even the book itself trembles


Even the cities stop a moment, and the dying
fields believe again that they can grow

And even the oaks turn to one another and nod
and even the rivers pause, listening

Even the sky pales and swoons over a land
stitched together, barely Boiling, simmering, gathering


strength And even a preacher speaks the shema
and the ragged shore rolls over, heals itself, says

Hear O Israel
The sea parts anew.

Note:  The photo is public domain from the Department of Defense; photographer is Master Sargent Cecilio Ricardo, Air Force.  If you are interested in more Obama-inspired poetry, visit this blog.