Inaugural poem to be remembered

At daybreak in America, on the morning of January the 20th, 2021, the sun's light shone on a people with bitter hearts, worried minds, and tired souls. Many of them stood firm, if not weary, from hyperbole, division and a stinging denigration of our democracy. One of the most contentious presidential terms was concluding with a disturbing, dishonest and ultimately hostile postelection tantrum.

Above the lawn of American flags, Kamala Harris cast aside 245 years of Americans not fully recognizing or taking recourse of the extraordinary resource that are our strong and strong-minded American women.

Joe Biden capped off a lifetime of political achievement, public service and personal heartache with an oath to serve and protect the United States Constitution as our 46th president. In his election, a majority of the American people signaled emphatically that even spectacular economic and policy accomplishments cannot replace civility and a genuine compassion for all of the people of these United States.

Amidst this historic day and the bizarre, unfamiliar turns of old familiar rituals, it was a "skinny black girl" from Los Angeles, a "daughter" of that peculiar institution, the dark, evil aberration on the eternal spirit of a people founded on and always striving for equality, that gave our sins forgiveness, our wounds balm, our fears courage and our hopes inspiration -- with words that I pray live on in the canon of American prose for 100 generations or more.

Addressing the president, vice president, their families, Americans and the world, Amanda Gorman, asked: "When day comes, we ask ourselves, 'where can we find light in this never-ending shade?'"

Our country, that started as a "City on a Hill" with a light for freedom that shined across continents, is now a people shaded by hate, selfishness and pride. In a voice filled with as much conviction, confidence and forthright clarity as those bold words of equality shouted by our forefathers, this young American woman sang the song of a people, our people.

We heard the words to this song and our hearts swelled along with the tears in our eyes, because the words she gave, in a cadence that unfurled with snaps and pops like the Stars and Stripes on the Fourth of July, are not unfamiliar to us. Like a prophet speaking to a people who have lost their way, this poet reminded us all of the song of freedom that is already written on our hearts, and in our mouths.

Will the calls for unity from this administration survive? If they do, will the opposition ignore them with hearts of stone? We will see. But for 5 minutes on this historic day, America stopped fighting and basked in the light from the sun of who we could be, who we should be, if our better angels prevail.

Gorman's words at once reminded me of similar previous historic words, spoken in this same place 160 years ago by President Lincoln in his first inaugural address. After speaking at some length about holding the Union together he concluded with:

"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

I pray our better angels bear us on from this moment. In "The Hill We Climb," Amanda Gorman has given the chorus of the Union another verse, one I will proudly teach my grandchildren.

May we as one American people forever be brave enough to see the light. Brave enough to be the light.

Trent Summers is a co-owner and general manager of Red Letter Communications in Cape Girardeau.