America Rising

Wisdom pools at the feet

of those who've fallen

to tears and dust,

only to slip in the mud

when attempting to stand.

They know.

When the waters of forgiveness

extinguish the fires of fear,

When eyes meet

and hands extend,

When rights and wants

give way to needs,

When trust meets faith

in the arms of hope,

When the holy meets the broken

in the church of sighing dreams,

And when the hollow bones

of history's ghosts

walk hand in hand

with today's fleshed bones,

When blackened trees

glint green in morning light,

Then, and only then,

will the great ship

begin its slow turn

from storm, through struggle,

to the rising waters

of the ocean, endless,

cresting the swelling waves

determined and resolute,

eyes fixed firmly

on the ever-shifting

horizon.