What a Mighty Long Way

By Carolyn Marie Rodgers
         i wrote of dawn as the new beginning on earth.
tonight, we see the dawn, as we never have before.
the light that shines and leads our paths is now
more real than it has ever been.
         our shared blood, our mutual love,
this land, this soil,
these ties and bonds have finally come
         together to form the nation knot.

         we have come this way through sojourners
and truths. through martyrs and other mighty
path finders.
         Oh, what a mighty long way we have come!
A mighty, mighty long way!

Notes:

Unpublished poem dated November 4, 2008. Reproduced with permission of Nina Rodgers Gordon.

This poem is part of the portfolio “Carolyn Marie Rodgers: What Beauty We Now Have” from the October 2022 issue.

Source: Poetry (October 2022)