Praise Song for the Day
A Poem for Barack
Obama’s Presidential Inauguration
walking
past each other, catching each other’s
eyes
or not, about to speak or speaking.
noise
and bramble, thorn and din, each
one
of our ancestors on our tongues.
a
hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing
the things in need of repair.
with
a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with
cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A
farmer considers the changing sky.
A
teacher says, Take out your pencils.
Begin.
spiny
or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words
to consider, reconsider.
the
will of some one and then others, who said
I
need to see what’s on the other side.
We
need to find a place where we are safe.
We
walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick
by brick the glittering edifices
they
would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise
song for every hand-lettered sign,
the
figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.
others
by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest
word is love?
love
that casts a widening pool of light,
love
with no need to pre-empt grievance.
any
thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On
the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
Copyright © 2009 by
Elizabeth Alexander. All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of
Graywolf Press,
Click here for more information on Jackson Poetry Prize recipient Elizabeth Alexander.