It was January 20, 2021, that many of us were introduced to the young wordsmith and change-maker, Amanda Gorman.
My heart is deeply moved to recognize the powerful light of a young woman who seems to already understand how love and compassion can heal us. As with all who seem to channel wisdom beyond their ken, Amanda is a leader for all of us, elders and youth.
I am not on twitter, so I will not be witnessing the constant depth, breadth and evolution of her manifest old soul. But in times of national anguish and personal seeking, I am relieved and joyful to know that Amanda Gorman brings us words of solace, brilliance, and leadership.
In this challenging new year of 2022, she brings hope with a new poem for a new day. Thank you, Amanda.
“New Day’s Lyric” May this be the day We come together. Mourning, we come to mend, Withered, we come to weather, Torn, we come to tend, Battered, we come to better. Tethered by this year of yearning, We are learning That though we weren’t ready for this, We have been readied by it. We steadily vow that no matter How we are weighed down, We must always pave a way forward. This hope is our door, our portal. Even if we never get back to normal, Someday we can venture beyond it, To leave the known and take the first steps. So let us not return to what was normal, But reach toward what is next. What was cursed, we will cure. What was plagued, we will prove pure. Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree, Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee, Where we weren’t aware, we’re now awake; Those moments we missed Are now these moments we make, The moments we meet, And our hearts, once all together beaten, Now all together beat. Come, look up with kindness yet, For even solace can be sourced from sorrow. We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday, But to take on tomorrow. We heed this old spirit, In a new day’s lyric, In our hearts, we hear it: For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. Be bold, sang Time this year, Be bold, sang Time, For when you honor yesterday, Tomorrow ye will find. Know what we’ve fought Need not be forgot nor for none. It defines us, binds us as one, Come over, join this day just begun. For wherever we come together, We will forever overcome.
Light and Dark: Riding the Waves 