Nichol: The truth and hope of Amanda Gorman’s poem defines and renews America

Perhaps it’s no surprise that in recent decades the most remarkable tribunes of the American promise have been African-Americans. The brutal transgression reveals the centrality of the commitment. The exacting weight of violation illuminates the yawning breach of the covenant. The burden of accustomed hypocrisy wounds, and stirs, the heart. Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, William Barber, Amanda Gorman.

Ms. Gorman, the 22-year-old inauguralist, explained after President Biden’s stirring oath-taking ceremony: “Poetry is typically the touchstone that we go back to when we have to remind ourselves of the history that we stand on, and the future that we stand for.”

And remind us she did. Remind us and more.

Beginning, grounded in the truth of our damaged times, Gorman acknowledged:

“When day comes, we ask ourselves

Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”

Echoing Lincoln and perhaps even matching him, she lodged a response in her country’s meaning:

“A nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished…

We are striving to forge a union with purpose

To compose a country committed

To all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man

So we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

But what stands before us.”

Then the young poet lifted our struggles for democracy and brotherhood – in the face of disease, death, dishonesty, demoralization, exhaustion, hatred, bigotry and greed – to a plane that most of us (certainly me) have been unable to muster. She saw victory where we couldn’t always identify it. Virtue in contest. Strength in perseverance. In the openness of locked arms. In the generosity, and mercy, of justice.

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

That even as we grieved, we grew

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”

Finally, Amanda Gorman defined us. She defined us in a moment that had seemed to almost all as if it had overwhelmed our long-claimed commitment and destiny. She defined us in the face of a scarred Capitol, an insurrection of seditionists and cowardly enablers, and a president bereft and dismissive of our public character. She defined us, clear-eyed, marked by both hideous infringement and world-changing, humanity-enlarging aspiration. She defined us, undaunted, by the errors and cynicism and weaknesses of her elders. She defined us, I’m guessing, as only the young and fearless can manage. She, once again, staked a claim for her nation.

“Because being American is more than a pride we inherit

It’s a past we step into and how we repair it

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it

So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?

Now we assert: how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us…

For there is always light

If only we’re brave enough to see it

If only we’re brave enough to be it.”