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'T'is Now, The Coming Age!' By Tampa's Poet Laureate

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Published: January 20, 2009

T'is Now, The Coming Age!

(Presidential Inauguration)

By James E. Tokley, Sr.

Poet Laureate, Tampa

We, the proud descendants of a brave-audacious dream

Four hundred years evolving, in the making of our might

A footnote in the epic of imperfect human beings

Unmindful we are mortal, though we face the coming night,

We stand here, at the cross-roads and consider where we've been

As we gaze on-coming daylight, and we brave the gaining wind

We children blessed by mayhem in our struggle to be free

Who were christened by the crucible of love for Liberty,

We gather here, upon this day, our banners full-unfurled

And raise our hands in a sign of peace and friendship to the world!

With open arms, we bid you come, to celebrate the change

That took four centuries to run, like thunder 'cross the plains

That took four hundred years to rise, as high as mountain peaks

As deep and wide as rivers' glide, to the waiting ocean's reach!

In unison, we welcome you, who've not come here, before,

To tell you that upon this day, we do not study war!

For, this day is a sacred day that stretches West and East

And all who chance to come this way are welcomed here,

In peace!

So, bring your loved ones, gather near! Come sing with us the song

That says, "With love, we need not fear. For,

Brotherhood makes us strong!"

Oh, does your heart still harbor hate? Can you not leave the Past?

Do you still doubt it is not fate that assembles us here, at last?

One nation who bespeaks the world, in every tongue and shade

Who worships every faith and creed that God has ever made!

Can you not see [that] upon these shores, is the Tree of Human Life

With the sweet fruit of Diversity, which blossoms full and ripe?

So, let there trumpet from these halls to places near and far

A greeting call heard 'round the world that resounds to the furthest star!

From American Samoa through the streets of New Orleans

From the plains of Arizona to Dakota, wide and green

From the winding river Nanticoke as it runs to the Chesapeake!

T the rolling Mississippi, as it makes its downward sweep!

From the Appalachian majesty of Americans brave and free

To the snow-robed realm of Alaska as it flanks the Northern Sea,

Let the truth make its appointed rounds, in every native tongue

That America still is hallowed ground, where dreamers yet, may come!

And we shall build the strongest bridge that the world has ever seen

The Moon and Mars, in the dead of space, shall be home to human beings

And together we shall feed a world of children in despair

And give to them who've never felt, the calm of doctor's care!

As one united people, of a Democratic birth, we shall

join with others around the world, and we shall heal this earth!

But let no one be mistaken. For, there's much we've yet to see

And regardless of our dreams and words, still much we've yet to be!

But as we stand here, resolute, upon this windy stage,

Be certain to be reassured: T'is now, the Coming Age!

For daughters fraught with constant toil, but seldom equal pay

For sons and daughters of the soil and a migrant worker's day

For the children who see love the same, in one another's eyes

Cast off, at last, your slavery chains! T'is now, your time to rise!

To all our friends and foes alike, we ask you search your hearts

Is there one wrong we can't make right, if we cease to stand apart?

So, let this new day conquer fear, no matter where it stands

And let the ones who've called us here, find friends, in every land!

Let every ear who hears these words, within them hear our name

For, today our name is Future, who has come here now, for change!

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