An Invocation
America. What a big continent—
and beyond. And what a history!
We come from every territory,
every nation, every race,
every gender, every blood
under our one sun.
We have endured slavery,
massacres of natives, untold
varieties of oppression—and yet
We have these promises.
And they are written in ink:
Equality before the law.
Innocent until proven guilty.
The fundamental right
to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.
True, we have not always
raised our beacon on the hill.
We have lied, we have pretended,
we have deluded ourselves—and yet
We always return.
We reclaim these words
and start again.
We are a starting over people.
We fail—often spectacularly—
and then get up on our two
exhausted legs and strive harder.
Over the centuries we have
established settlements,
steam-boated down rivers,
stage-coached across mountains,
rocketed to the moon and Mars.
We are pioneers
and we are pilgrims.
We protest and we serve.
We declare our independence
and we swear allegiance
On this day
Let us be a people
who keep our promises.
And let us be a nation
that continues to show promise
so that day by day,
year by year, we become
more fully the light,
the freedom, the justice
we are meant to be.
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