If ivory shores are closer than ever before,
then home is coming.
If by the tides some old rocks new wash up,
then home has returned.
If by the sun I see fields and sand and manna-dew,
then home is sunning.
If by the grave of the mind dormant memories rise,
then home is alive.
If by the heart of eons we awake quite undimmed
of shores uncollared, unsettled, unsinned—
then home is near.
If by a stone of old rocks new I can skip
back to ivory shores of dark winds,
oldest waters, and long-lost kin
then home is here… I do, I do.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Truly a 21st Century
And I awoke to a Black President. He, too, sings America.
Such jubilation. To be alive when hundreds of years of strife and struggle and humiliation have come to a head, a striking point of triumph and vindication for African Americans, is tearful, joyful... wonderful.
I was just about to purchase a book of poems by Langston Hughes, one of the pivotal voices of Black America during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920's (not to mention one of literature's luminaries in the 20th Century, black or white). I don't care how much money I don't have, I'm buying it; and Obama's book Audacity of Hope (not just because he's the new President Elect.) It was his audacity, his voice, his intelligence, his charisma, his clear message of change and unity that offered something fresh and vibrant in a nation that has been, and it is the truth, running on the fumes of old white men. Not since the days of Kennedy (the 33rd President, no less) has the nation been so alive with the promise of youth and integrity and promise. But unlike Kennedy, who was born and bred in the Kingdom of Camelot, Obama comes from another stock, a perspective that straddles the racial and the social barriers.
Now, I'm not one for blind optimism, so I will have to concede a level of skepticism (I'm skeptical of any politician, black or white). He has much to do, and much to prove. He is inexperienced, but so was Bush. He was an oil magnate with an experienced Daddy, and the luck of having a tragic event push him to the level of "savior". (Yikes! People really did think that.) Lincoln was inexperienced. A lawyer who took the trials and tribulations of a troubled nation and transformed himself so that he could transform a nation at its own throat. The Union is, at the moment, less internally unstable, yet no less challenging in its maintenance. Is Obama ready to keep the glue that has held this nation, at times tenuosly, frightfully, together? History will tell.
Such jubilation. To be alive when hundreds of years of strife and struggle and humiliation have come to a head, a striking point of triumph and vindication for African Americans, is tearful, joyful... wonderful.
I was just about to purchase a book of poems by Langston Hughes, one of the pivotal voices of Black America during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920's (not to mention one of literature's luminaries in the 20th Century, black or white). I don't care how much money I don't have, I'm buying it; and Obama's book Audacity of Hope (not just because he's the new President Elect.) It was his audacity, his voice, his intelligence, his charisma, his clear message of change and unity that offered something fresh and vibrant in a nation that has been, and it is the truth, running on the fumes of old white men. Not since the days of Kennedy (the 33rd President, no less) has the nation been so alive with the promise of youth and integrity and promise. But unlike Kennedy, who was born and bred in the Kingdom of Camelot, Obama comes from another stock, a perspective that straddles the racial and the social barriers.
Now, I'm not one for blind optimism, so I will have to concede a level of skepticism (I'm skeptical of any politician, black or white). He has much to do, and much to prove. He is inexperienced, but so was Bush. He was an oil magnate with an experienced Daddy, and the luck of having a tragic event push him to the level of "savior". (Yikes! People really did think that.) Lincoln was inexperienced. A lawyer who took the trials and tribulations of a troubled nation and transformed himself so that he could transform a nation at its own throat. The Union is, at the moment, less internally unstable, yet no less challenging in its maintenance. Is Obama ready to keep the glue that has held this nation, at times tenuosly, frightfully, together? History will tell.
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