Poem for the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by Amanda Gorman, Youth Poet Laureate

Poem for the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
By Amanda Gorman, Youth Poet Laureate


Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madame Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans, and the world,

When day
Comes, we ask ourselves, "Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?"
The loss we carry a sea
We must wade—
We've braved
The belly of the beast.

We've learned that quiet isn't always peace,
And the norms and notions of what "just is"
Isn't always "just-ice."

And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it;
Somehow, we do it;
Somehow, we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't
Broken but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl, descended from slaves
And raised
By a single mother, can dream of becoming President, only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes, we are far from polished—far from pristine—
But that doesn't mean
We are striving to form a Union that is perfect;
We are striving to forge our union with purpose—
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gazes, not to what stands
Between us,
But to what stands
Before us.

We close the divide
Because we know, to put
Our future first, we must first put
Our differences aside.

We lay down our arms
So we can reach out our arms
To one
Another; we seek harm
To none
And harm-
Ony for all.

Let the globe,
If nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew—
That even as we hurt, we hoped—
That even as we tired, we tried—
That we'll forever be tied
Together, victorious—not because we will never again know
Defeat, but because we will never again sow
Division.

Scripture tells us to envision
That everyone shall sit under their own vine
And fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid;
If we're to live up to our own time,
Then victory won't lie in the blade
But in all of the bridges we've made.

That is the promised glade—
The hill we climb if only we dare it,
Because being American is more than a pride we inherit:
It's the past we step into and how we repair it.

We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it—
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy—and this effort very nearly succeeded;
But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith, we trust,
For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.

This is the era of just
Redemption;
We feared in its inception
We did not feel prepared
To be the heirs
Of such a terr-
Ifying hour,
But within it, we found the power
To author
A new chapter—
To offer
Hope and laughter
To ourselves.

So while once we asked, "How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?"
Now we assert, "How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?"

We will not march back to what was but move
To what shall be
A country that is bruised
But whole—
Benevolent but bold—
Fierce and free.

We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation
Because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.

Our blunders become their burdens,
But once thing is certain:
If we merge mercy
With might
And might with right,
Then love becomes our legacy
And changes our children's birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with;
Every breath
From a bronze pounded chest
We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the West;
We will rise from the wind-swept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution;
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states;
We will rise from the sun-baked South;
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover,
In every known nook of our nation—
In every corner called our country.

Our people, diverse
And beautiful, will emerge
Battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade
Of flame, and unafraid,
The new dawn blooms as we free it;
For there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it—
If only we're brave enough
To be it.