I wish I could wrap us all in a blanket of warmth
Such that we would sleep through the winter
Awakening only with spring's new growth
Or, at least, get a good night's sleep tonight
With a joyful awakening at dawn's first light-
Confident of the promising day ahead,
But I cannot wrap us all in a blanket of warmth.
I am one of the restless in sleeping
Who will wake to a dark, frozen day
As if Mother Nature, tired of weeping,
Shocked us all with cold and gray
To say better to get numb
Then to care so deeply
Or to see too clearly
The future we step into on this
Inauguration Day.
I wish I could wrap us in a quilt of serenity-
Keep us all safe, sheltered, warm
With an endless supply of precious eggs
A nation that in perpetuity
Welcomes the foreign-born seeking freedom's shore,
Embraces the diversity among us
But l cannot wrap us in a quilt of serenity.
For I am one for whom insecurity will become the norm.
I am aged, disabled, transgendered and queer,
My skin isn't quite white,
My status might be questioned
A woman unable to birth a child,
I am one of those with little worth in a land where
Security and safety belong only to the wealthy born.
I wish I could surround us all with grace
So with gratitude, we might embrace
A past of greatness and shame
And mourn a present of greed and sin,
Believe in a future that will make us all...
Well, I will not say great again,
Perhaps, kind, creative, innovative, strong, and free
A world of grace I would bequeath to thee and me,
But what I wish is not what is to be,
So l cannot surround us all with grace.
Yet...
I will not wrap us all in anger, despair, or apathy
Even if it seems we've given away the soul of the American dream.
America's never been exceptional.
It's always been a myth.
A dream our forefathers dreamed one afternoon long ago.
A dream never quite achieved.
Sometimes we have come closer.
Sometimes we have failed astonishingly.
Today we fail by will collectively.
Yet, there is nothing exceptional about America or Americans-
Only something exceptional about the dream.
In America we will do what we have always done.
Dreamers dream
Workers work
Lovers love
Voters vote
Marchers march
Families care for each other
Humanity endures.
We must live in the reality.
We cannot live in a dream.
Yet, we cannot give up on this dream. it is the American soul.
So, I rewrap us all today in that American dream-
Of Equality for all.
It never was, but it might someday yet be.
It is a worthwhile dream.