The poet and activist, Amanda Gorman, wrote her spoken-word poem, “This Sacred Scene,” and performed it at the Democratic National Convention on August 21st in Chicago. Following are her words:
We gather at this hollowed place / because we believe in the American dream.
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 of 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, / coherence 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.
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 an American dream, / let us be worthy of it.
Photo: Today all day – NBC News