THIS DAY: THE INAUGURATION OF BARACK OBAMA
This day
Is not just any day
It is a day of days
A day of a lifetime
An epoch making day
At a time that cries out
For new beginnings
This day
Is a watershed day
A day that separates
Yesterday from today
And today from tomorrow
On a mindless march of days
That needed breaking
This day
Is a day to be marked
As something remarkable
A day to be celebrated
As something joyful
A day to be remembered
As something historic
This day
Is a tribute to the past
With its sacrifices of so many
A blessing for the present
Amidst looming clouds of despair
And a vision for the future
Welcomed with an open hand
This day
Is not the struggle's end
But the journey's beginning
It is not the death of prejudice
But the life of possibility
It is not the end of nights
But the start of days
This day
Is not so much a forging ahead
As a long overdue catching up
With changes at last
That begin to give life
To time-honoured ideals
And flickering hopes
This day
Is a day of coming together
When power meets responsibility
And rhetoric meets action
It is a day of empowerment
When the voiceless are heard
And the marginal become mainstream
This day
Is a day of reconciliation
When the past is laid to rest
And the future is awakening
It is a day of prodigals
When the lost find their way home
And a nation rejoins the world
Wayne Visser
20 January 2009
