It was just about a month ago when Amanda Gorman, the first-ever youth poet laureate read her poem, The Hill We Climb, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. And what a reception she received from those who heard her words!
That day we saw a young woman who spoke of the darkness that lives in our history, yet she holds a light for a way forward, for a better future for us, for our country, for our children.
For this is the hill we must climb.
And as she shared that day, we will rise, battered and beautiful, in the new light of dawn – if we have the courage to see the light and to be the light.
In this month of honoring Black History, let us honor the passion and wisdom of this young American poet descended from slaves who, in her short life, is aware of the past she has stepped into and sees a vision of how to repair and emerge from it with beauty for a better tomorrow.
For we are not broken but simply unfinished.
Let us take the words of Amanda within our hearts and let them simmer for a while. Let us hold our wounds with gentleness and love.
Then, let us realize that we too, as individuals, are not broken, but simply unfinished. And we can rise with courage, battered and beautiful, to be the light in the world.
We want to help you be the light in this world! Join us for our first ever Live Your Dreams retreat in September 2021 at our new Oasis, Good&Sharp Studios (our dream!). We’ll support you in making your dreams a reality. Come and join us!
What is left unfinished in you that the world is waiting to receive?
What light are you still meant to bring into the world if only you are courageous enough to see it? To be it?
What dreams still live in your heart waiting to burst out into the world to bring a new dawn?
May the time be now for all of us to see the light, to be the light and to bring a new dawn into the world!
Enjoy the excerpt below of Amanda Gorman’s poem. May it inspire you to be a light in the world today.
The Hill We Climb
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
…We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
…Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
… victory won't lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we've made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
…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
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