Amanda Gorman Ushers in the New Year with New Day’s Lyric

Amanda GormanKate Deciccio, The Amplifier Foundation

May this be the day

We come together.

Mourning, we come to mend,

Withered, we come to weather,

Torn, we come to tend,

Battered, we come to better.

Tethered by this year of yearning,

We are learning

That though we weren't ready for this,

We have been readied by it.

We steadily vow that no matter

How we are weighed down,

We must always pave a way forward.

*

This hope is our door, our portal.

Even if we never get back to normal,

Someday we can venture beyond it,

To leave the known and take the first steps.

So let us not return to what was normal,

But reach toward what is next.

*

What was cursed, we will cure.

What was plagued, we will prove pure.

Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,

Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,

Where we weren't aware, we're now awake;

Those moments we missed

Are now these moments we make,

The moments we meet,

And our hearts, once all together beaten,

Now all together beat.

*

Come, look up with kindness yet,

For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.

We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,

But to take on tomorrow.

*

We heed this old spirit,

In a new day's lyric,

In our hearts, we hear it:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne.

Be bold, sang Time this year,

Be bold, sang Time,

For when you honor yesterday,

Tomorrow ye will find.

Know what we've fought

Need not be forgot nor for none.

It defines us, binds us as one,

Come over, join this day just begun.

For wherever we come together,

We will forever overcome.

*Published on Instagram. In her Instagram post, Gorman urged readers to donate money to the International Rescue Committee (https://www.rescue.org) to help those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has pledged $50,000.

LINKS to more information:

/amanda-gorman-the-poet-who-healed-a-nation

CNN - "How a 'Hamilton' song helped Amanda Gorman overcome a speech impediment" 

Oprah.com - "A Full Transcript of Amanda Gorman's Breathtaking Inauguration Poem" 

Amanda Gorman Website - Wordsmith. Change-maker. Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. 

The New York Times - "A Young Poet’s Inspiration" 

PBS - Lesson Plan: Discuss 22-year-old Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb”