We the People

We the People Will disagree On taxation and prosperity On liberty and duty We the People Are every color of Christianity Every Jewish prayer, every song of Islam The puritans, the atheists and the Amish Are neighbors here We the People Are Jamaican and Japanese Swedish and Samoan Cuban and Cherokee Moroccan and Mexican The Irish and the Inuit And all shades of Africa We are country hills and cityscapes Suburban parks and downtown fire escapes We are singers and stutterers Daredevils and diplomats Renegades and redeemers The leaders and the lone wolves The suits and the sarongs We are the gun owners for gun control The justice for unjust loopholes We are the hands that struck the iron And the backs that laid the tracks Of trails of rails connecting Sea to shining Sea We are protesters and poets The soldiers without peace The nurses without sleep We are the straight arrows and the skeptics The gay and the god-fearing We are Black Lives Matter And we are the badges in blue We the People Are complicit and complicated No freedom gave To chains of slaves We have conquered and colonized Sacrificed and stolen Pillaged and planted To naturalize a nation We are teachers of tenacity Prophicies of pioneers And the children of second chances We the People Speak for our land’s legacy In every tongue, from every rung On each stumbled stair, each crumbled chair We demand democracy. 8/21/20 Poem of the Day August 23, 2020