Inauguration Day

Just about before today
I was dreading this
transition. I didn't
come from the side
who thought Obama
was the kind of change
we needed. Then I
started to think.

He probably is.

Putting aside the problems
I have with why it happened,
he may turn out to be
the answer we've needed
for the past forty years,
ever since the turbulence
of the 1960s, which we
struggled with the next decade,
thought we'd gotten over
by the 1980s, and discovered
just how wrong we were
in the following two.

It's a long time for turmoil,
and what we've lacked in
that time is a genuine voice
for optimism, whatever
the motivation. (Sorry,
despite what they think,
entertainers don't really count.)

That's what Obama means
to me, on this day,
at this moment, when
at the start of things,
we can all afford to give
him some benefit of the doubt.

I just don't want to feed
the machine that's crushed
the United States more
than any airplane could.
I'm over it. The despair
and bitter season are over.

Congratulations to him,
and to the history he
was welcomed into so
easily. Now the work begins.