Amanda Gorman: Won't You Be My Sister?

 Won't You Be My Sister?

 

Mark me a ripple,

Make me a piercing drop 

Of froth at the lip of a wave,

Just so I can be but a note

In the roar of this cresting ocean.

 

Name me breath,

Know me as air

Dancing nude in the tree tops,

Just so I can be but a sigh

In the cry of this changing world. 

Call me heat, 

Claim me red

Of flash writhing in fervor

Just so I can be but a spark

In the pulse of a newborn flame.

Hear me as woman,

Have me as your sister

On purpled battlefield breaking day,

So I might say our victory is just beginning.

 

That you and I are women

No longer trying to woo men 

Holding the truth to be self-evident

That all genders are created equal.

See me as change,

Say I am movement,

That I am the year

And I am the era

Of the women.

— Amanda Gorman,

22 year old American poet and activist