Amanda Gorman - The Hill We Climb [calibre]

VIKING

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

First published in the United States of America by Viking,

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021

Copyright 2021 by Amanda Gorman

Foreword copyright 2021 by Harpo, Inc.

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CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Foreword by Oprah Winfrey

Prologue

The Hill We Climb

About the Author

FOREWORDby OPRAH WINFREY

THEY DONT COME very often, these moments of incandescence where the welter of pain and suffering gives way to hope. Maybe even joy.

Where a deep distress that has dogged our souls and shaken our faithso difficult to articulate and even harder to bearis transformed into something clear and pure.

Where wisdom flows in cadences that sync with the thrum of our blood, the beat of our hearts.

Where grace and peace in human form take the measure, seeing where weve been and where we must go, lighting the way with her words.

She was exactly what wed been waiting for, this skinny Black girl, descended from slaves, showing us our true selves, our human heritage, our heart. Everyone who watched came away enhanced with hope and marveling at seeing the best of who we are and can be through the eyes and essence of a twenty-two-year-old, our countrys youngest presidential inaugural poet.

As her words washed over us, they healed our wounds and resurrected our spirits. A nation, bruised but whole, climbed up off its knees.

And finally, a miracle: we felt the sun pierce the never-ending shade.

That is the power of poetry. And that is the power we collectively witnessed at the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden on January 20, 2021.

The day Amanda Gorman, profoundly presenting her fullest, most radiant self, rose to the microphone and the Moment . . . giving us the gift of The Hill We Climb.

Read by the poet

at the inauguration of

President Joe Biden

January 20, 2021

Mr. President and Dr. Biden,

Madam Vice President and Mr. Emhoff,

Americans, and the World:

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.

Weve braved the belly of the beast.

Weve learned that quiet isnt always peace,

And the norms and notions of what just is

Isnt always justice.

And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.

Somehow, we do it.

Somehow, weve weathered and witnessed

A nation that isnt 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 this doesnt mean were striving to

form a union that is perfect.

We are striving to forge our 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 that we can reach our arms out 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 well 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 were to live up to our own time, then

victory

Wont lie in the blade, but in all the bridges

weve made.

That is the promised glade,

The hill we climb, if only we dare it:

Because being American is more than a

pride we inherit

Its the past we step into, and how we

repair it.

Weve 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 it at its inception.

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs

Of such a terrifying hour.

But within it weve 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 childrens birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better

than the one we were left.

With every breath from our bronze-

pounded chests,

We will raise this wounded world into

a wondrous one.

We will rise from the gold-limned 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,

In every known nook of our nation,

In every corner called our country,

Our people, diverse and dutiful.

Well emerge, battered but 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 were brave enough to see it,

If only were brave enough to be it.

AMANDA GORMAN became the sixth and youngest poet, at age twenty-two, to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. She is a committed activist who works on the local, national, and international levels to advocate for the environment, racial justice, and gender equality. Amandas work has been featured on