I am too old for this reckoning,
I am too old NOT to reckon
with past promises,
Of life outside myself-
The shadows call me home,
yet where exactly do I land ?
Only words define the substance
of Art, Growth, Humanity itself;
I dare to tell tales of which I know
very little,
But imagining them is how
I conquer fears,
create escapes,
Follow my own footsteps through
a tunnel of RECKONING--and REPOSE.
Dedicated to the Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman who recited her piece, "Call Us What We Carry" at Pres. Joe Biden's Inaugural Ceremony. I tried to write as if it were Amanda herself speaking to us, in her own unique voice.