We became paid professionals of pain, Specialists in suffering, Aces of the ache, Masters of the moan. - Amanda Gorman

We don’t need a gown.
We don’t need a stage.
We are walking beside our ancestors,
Their drums roar for us,
Their feet stomp at our life.
There is power in being robbed
& still choosing to dance.

Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished. . .
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose

We will not be slowed, come the loads, roadblocks, hills that may.

We’ll keep fulfilling this path

Until the world goes still to say:

Where there’s will, there’s women

And where there’s women

There is always a way.