The Ties that Free

He could have shown more eloquence
By clinging to the ritual
Of splendid thoughts but at expense
Of grist in an Inaugural.
He found instead more plans to pump
As though back on the campaign stump.

Like gun control and climate change,
Now that he’ll never run again,
Two subjects destined to derange
Tea Party-sponsored congressmen.
Obama, on the national stage,
No longer has to fear their rage.

Let’s hope the national audience
For Martin Luther King’s birthday
Observed a fine coincidence:
The first black president’s cachet
Results from folks of every kind
Discovering the ties that bind.

Let freedom ring from every hill
When all God’s children, black and white,
Can sing an old-time spiritual
That free at last, they’ve seen the light.
What Founding Fathers did not do
Was left for us to follow through.

—Inauguration Day 2013