POEM FOR PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA Defuse me as promised Contend me Choose me and the transition into HOPE will become a part of our mission Do not fear what they told you could possibly be a mirror to the impossible Do not fear when they tell you that you may fail Remember you MADE today possible Paving a version of this vision that began As a new generation and dissipated Into a witness of perfection ready for reconciliation Of the trials and tribulations of a people ready for this moment to come Find a moment to build YOUR personal campaign to victory Succeed when your moment comes for you Focus and recognize the turning point when it happens Watch them as they analyze your success Know that they will celebrate you and criticize your journey in the same breath Trust that you will be the same man you were When you failed at inspiring the person You wanted most to inspire We will soon understand the feeling of that echo We will define and defend What it means to lead the life of rising From the bottom to the top To cracking a ceiling of glass To being 5 generations removed from slavery To being proud once again to declaring yourself an American, an African, a woman or a man, a Patriot, a part of something greater than anything you ever thought was worthy of being shouted over a rainbow or a mountain top Today is the day we learned you became President of the United States of America Today we celebrate in the present tense We believed But we knew not what the definition of the ultimate perspective would ever become But now we know Now we know that in time In time you can survive The hurricanes that will come for you Now you know that in time That this change in our lives will leave us Better than we ever were before
Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo November 4th 2008