The Day The Earth Stood Still (en dikt)

[Henke]

En dikt av E. Ethelbert Miller för att fira Barack Obama’s installation, där två sf-författare nämns, Samuel Delany och Octavia Butler.

Some of us took Octavia Butler
and Samuel Delany books off the shelf.

Churches closed their doors as if people
were saying their prayers for the last time.

In was a cold day in January. Cold enough
for history to stay indoors under a quilt.

Many of us. Maybe millions went down
to the Mall to hear Obama.

I stood behind Duke Ellington and Billy
Strayhorn. Duke was composing on the spoit.

Sacred music was in the air. I wanted
to lift every voice and sing.

I wanted to hear the thunder and watch
The first drops of a new American rain.