This Sacred Scene
We face a race that tests if this country we cherish shall perish from the earth
and if our earth shall perish from this country.
It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall, for a people that cannot stand together,
cannot stand at all.
We are one family regardless of religion, class, or color
for what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty, but our love for one another.
This is loud in our country’s call because while we all love freedom, it is love that frees us all.
Empathy emancipates, making us greater than hate or vanity. That is the American promise, powerful and pure.
Divided we cannot endure but united we can endeavor to humanize our democracy and endear democracy to humanity.
And make no mistake, cohering is the hardest task history ever wrote,
but tomorrow is not written by our odds of hardship, but by the audacity of our hope, by the vitality of our vote.
Only now, approaching this rare air are we aware that perhaps the American dream is no dream at all, but instead, a dare to dream together.
Like a million roots tethered, branching up humbly, making one tree.
This is our country from many, one, from battles won,
our freedoms sung, our kingdom come has just begun.
We redeem this sacred scene ready for our journey from it.
Together we must birth this early republic and achieve an unearthly summit.
Let us not just believe in the American dream. Let us be worthy of it.
Amanda Gorman
2017 National Youth Poet Laureate
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