Piercing Revolution and Peaceful Evolution

by Irene Daniel

Born of violence
revisited from time to time
war gives way to weariness
and longing for the sublime

Then building and rebuilding
a more gentle knowing grows
and seeds of peaceful evolution
is what our sorrow sows

But anger always seething
beneath an uneasy calm,
the bitter and the boisterous overcome
anesthetizing balm

Of moving ever forward
too slow for some, too fast for others
to claim a glorious destiny
for all of our sisters and brothers

Our creed boasts of inclusion
and equality for all
yet, in our human frailty
this order is too tall

For many perceive the fallacy
that if others win, we fail
but this lie can never depict
our true American tale

For we all win or we all lose
together, not apart
out of many, one
is the beat of our American heart

Born of revolution
yet peacefully we evolve