Author Topic: Just words ...  (Read 484 times)

uwe

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Just words ...
« on: January 21, 2021, 05:19:21 PM »
I saw that live yesterday. It stunned me. It's like she created a new art form sitting comfortably between poetry reading, sermon, rap and political speech. She's only 22!



And as fashion always concerns us here: I've never seen a red satin headband and a yellow winter coat  with a white blouse look as smashing, yet poignant on anyone.
We've taken too much for granted ... and all the time it had grown ...
From techno seeds we first planted ... evolved a mind of its own ...

Pilgrim

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Re: Just words ...
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2021, 06:05:32 PM »
That whole event was memorable. I hung out on CNN most of the day, including the incredible fireworks show that evening.  Evening news said it was 35,000 fireworks and the show was heard up to 15 miles away. It was one of the most impressive displays I have ever seen!

I confess that I'm not a fan of that semi-rap format of poetry (I lean to Kipling, myself) but even so I picked up phrases here and there from Gorman that were impressive.
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila."

uwe

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Re: Just words ...
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2021, 06:17:39 PM »
When day comes we ask ourselves,

where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry,

a sea we must wade

We've braved the belly of the beast

We've learned that quiet isn't always peace

And the norms and notions

of what just is

Isn't always just-ice

And yet the dawn is ours

before we knew it

Somehow we do it

Somehow we've weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn't broken

but simply unfinished

We the successors of a country and a time

Where a skinny Black girl

descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

can dream of becoming president

only to find herself reciting for one

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

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and

conditions of man

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside

We lay down our arms

so we can reach out our arms

to one another

We seek harm to none and harmony for all

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:

That even as we grieved, we grew

That even as we hurt, we hoped

That even as we tired, we tried

That we'll forever be tied together, victorious

Not because we will never again know defeat

but because we will never again sow division

Scripture tells us to envision

that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree

And no one shall make them afraid

If we're to live up to our own time

Then victory won't lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we've made

That is the promise to glade

The hill we climb

If only we dare

It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

it's the past we step into

and how we repair it

We've seen a force that would shatter our nation

rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

it can never be permanently defeated

In this truth

in this faith we trust

For while we have our eyes on the future

history has its eyes on us

This is the era of just redemption

We feared at its inception

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs

of such a terrifying hour

but within it we found the power

to author a new chapter

To offer hope and laughter to ourselves

So while once we asked,

how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?

Now we assert

How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was

but move to what shall be

A country that is bruised but whole,

benevolent but bold,

fierce and free

We will not be turned around

or interrupted by intimidation

because we know our inaction and inertia

will be the inheritance of the next generation

Our blunders become their burdens

But one thing is certain:

If we merge mercy with might,

and might with right,

then love becomes our legacy

and change our children's birthright

So let us leave behind a country

better than the one we were left with

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one

We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,

we will rise from the windswept northeast

where our forefathers first realized revolution

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,

we will rise from the sunbaked south

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover

and every known nook of our nation and

every corner called our country,

our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,

battered and beautiful

When day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid

The new dawn blooms as we free it

For there is always light,

if only we're brave enough to see it

If only we're brave enough to be it
We've taken too much for granted ... and all the time it had grown ...
From techno seeds we first planted ... evolved a mind of its own ...

Highlander

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Re: Just words ...
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2021, 04:56:49 AM »
Beauty can be so fragile... to paraphrase a great American thinker and speaker and idealist... She has a dream...

[face-palm] Ker-Ching [/face-palm]
The random mind of a Silver Surfer...
If research was easy, it wouldn't need doing...
Staring at that event horizon is a dirty job, but someone has to do it; something's going to come back out of it one day...

gearHed289

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Re: Just words ...
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2021, 09:05:12 AM »
I absolutely love this. I didn't plan on watching the event, but I had decided to go into work late on Wednesday. I was doing some work on my laptop in the dining room and my wife was watching it in the living room. Gaga singing the anthem got my attention. I actually got a little choked up. Then the pledge, recited and signed by Andrea Hall. And then Amanda. It was a bright and sunny day, literally and figuratively!

Pilgrim

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Re: Just words ...
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2021, 10:33:28 AM »
I absolutely love this. I didn't plan on watching the event, but I had decided to go into work late on Wednesday. I was doing some work on my laptop in the dining room and my wife was watching it in the living room. Gaga singing the anthem got my attention. I actually got a little choked up. Then the pledge, recited and signed by Andrea Hall. And then Amanda. It was a bright and sunny day, literally and figuratively!

That captures the spirit of it for me as well. I felt a weight lifted off.
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila."

uwe

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Re: Just words ...
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2021, 10:15:36 PM »
Gaga's dress very nearly stole the show! The girl sure took "it's better to be over- than underdressed for an occasion" by heart. :mrgreen: She sang the national anthem well, it's devilish hard.

It was nice to see Garth Brooks again. The guy is a card-carrying Republican, but the new FLOTUS had asked for him and he showed up. Good guy.

Having Eugene Goodman and Brayden Harrington (re)appear were nice touches too.

Never been much of a Foo Fighters fan, but I liked that song they played in the evening show. Black Puma(s?), who I had never heard of, were good too.
We've taken too much for granted ... and all the time it had grown ...
From techno seeds we first planted ... evolved a mind of its own ...

amptech

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Re: Just words ...
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2021, 11:51:09 PM »
I saw that live yesterday. It stunned me. It's like she created a new art form sitting comfortably between poetry reading, sermon, rap and political speech. She's only 22!



And as fashion always concerns us here: I've never seen a red satin headband and a yellow winter coat  with a white blouse look as smashing, yet poignant on anyone.

I loved it too👍