In honor of the new U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo.
Eagle Poem
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.
by Joy Harjo
From In Mad Love and War
April 16 is Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia. Here is a poem celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation sent to Abraham Lincoln by Barry Gray, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
To Abraham Lincoln:
Poem Celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation
Not often unto mortal is it given —
Whate'er his worldy rank or state may be —
The power, sustained by principle and truth,
To set, as Lincoln did, a people free.
He was ordained to do this Christlike deed,
To snap the bonds of slavery apart,
To break the chains which held the negro down,
And draw the iron from his bleeding heart.
This Proclamation, stamped with his strong will,
This writ of Freedom, sealed by his firm hand,
This last, great act, Emancipation's prayer,
Freeing all bonds men living in the land,
Will cause Humanity throughout the world,
To bless and honor Abraham Lincoln's name,
And, more than marble fane or statue could,
Will crown his memory with enduring fame.
by Barry Gray
see the handwritten poem here
