Understanding a moment

I feel humbled, by the power of the moment
the days we are in the midst of, something electric,
life changing in these moments of time

The coming together, the rising up,
the binding up of wounds too old to remember
to fresh to forget, of words that matter,
that hold us, our memory, our hearts

Something different, new, in the air
a hope, a chance, a responsibility
a burden too great to carry
a mantle being passed, a new generation

Oh that the times were but a little
just a little less trying, that this one
in this his time in the light
had an easier road than his forebears

So much at stake in these moments
in this turn of the hands of time
so much to pray for,
to bow our heads together

To you, oh Lord, we turn
and ask for your strength for our leaders
for this is a moment for vision
and a unity we have all but forgotten


January 17, 2009
on the juxtaposition of the
80th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the inauguration of Barack Obama
as President of the United States of America
and the Presidential Oath, from the
US Constitution, Article I, Section 1, Clause 8,
repeated verbatim by the presidents. The only language in quotes
in the Constitution, unlike the general principles elsewhere.
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States,
and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of the United States."