DANIEL ORTNER: Reflections on a more perfect union
We the peopleDisheveled and dirty
Covered in mud flung
Between back and forth
Assertions
Are elevated and inspired
By words of decency and
Candor
At the darkest moment
With campaign tethering on Disaster
Barack Obama stood up
For nation and self
While taking the venom
Out of the words
Of a radical so-called holy man
He led us to reflect
On the dark original sin
That clouds our nation
And our self-deception
As we pretend
We have found repentance
That the dream
Has come at last
When really much must still Be done
Despite our healing attempts And progress
An unspoken fracture remains
It is the drumbeat of the anger
That surges from the soul of The black community
And into the mouth of
Preachers and politicians
New Orleans
Destroyed and forgotten
An impoverished nation
Where the gap
Continues to grow
Between those with hope and Those without
It is the passionate
Recoil of those
Whose dreams are diminished
And for whom opportunity is A raisin in the sun.
But in our insular
Communities and cliques
We often forget
That this anguished cry
Is colorblind
Felt by the immigrants
Struggling
To find an place
The blue-collar workers
Displaced as their jobs are
Outsourced
And the soldiers betrayed by Stop-loss orders
Misled into a false war.
This yearning desire
For something new
Something great
Something more
Has the potential to unite
As long as we can empathize
Understand the anger
Each strand
Of the fractured
American mosaic
Bears in its thread
It won't be easy
No single politician
No matter how inspiring
Could ever single-handedly
Accomplish this
But we must be honest
Speak candidly about our fears
And unify to achieve
A more perfect union
At long last
Yes we can!
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