Inauguration Day

The joy of the crowds in Washington overflowed the small television set where we watched the inauguration of Barack Obama during our lunch break today.

No matter the personal politics, each person felt the change and the energy present in today's ceremony. It is what makes America the beautiful, the faces of her people united in spirit and energy to make tomorrow a new day, a new beginning for our country.

As I watched the faces and listened to the words, I remembered two poems I wrote a couple years ago that echo what was being said today. They are a fitting post for this day:

I Dream

of a day with no war
of a night with no prisoners
of a week with no soldiers
of a year with no torture
of a decade without terror
of a century without armies
of a time when people believe in peace
and all sleep gently in a place without fear


Everyday Lives

I write of lives unheralded--
the builders of our roads
the teachers of our children
the cleaners of our homes
the easers of our pain
the tillers of our soil
the keepers of the flame

that burns in each small village
along each rural road
in the middle of our cities
on the hearths of every home
they tend to life’s small details
though few may know their names
they live unrecorded history--
the keepers of the flame