Obama, The World Rejoices, But What Will You Do?

Dear, dear Obama,
– You are a bright man,
– An upright man,
– A man above hate and recrimination,
– A just man whom suffering makes wince,
– Having suffered much—
– A man who means well by his people,
– Black, White and others,
– And by the world.

Your people did not give you victory
– Only because you are Black,
– But because they long for the return
– Of decency, peace, and prosperity.

Yet, you are to be now
– The executive head of a conglomerate
– That has inflicted much suffering
– Upon all parts of the world,
– Even when it did what looked like the
“right thing”.

You will preside over a powerhouse
– That never tires of justifying all its deeds
– Now in the name of freedom,
– Now in the name of god.
– And the power-structures your predecessors
– Built, often over the world’s blood,
– Surround you,
– And assasins lurk and abound,
– Having drawn high blood before.

What will you do?
– Make intelligent compromise?
– Go down with subtlety the trodden road,
– Putting your best intent on hold?

Or, will you make bold,
– Embrace the world, and walk in its step,
– Giving with selfless grace,
– And taking with gratitude in required measure?
– Silence the dogs of war,
– And let peace and mankind smile?

Everywhere, people wait and watch—
– In the sands of Iraq,
– In the mountains of Afghanistan,
– In the usurped lands of Palestine;
– In the streets and factories of the world,
– Among enslaved states,
– And “sanctioned” swathes of territories
– Where children die in the millions of denial,
– As their elders trudge from land to land
– Looking for some momentary home,
– Till they trudge again.

And in your own country
– Memory seeks to transcend
– Her founding genocide,
– And the animal sweat of slavery
– That furnished the White House
– That you shall adorn.
– Those that made history
– To put you on high
– Wish to be a people like any other,
– Trusted, loved, wanted.

In your victory speech you said
– How after “some two centuries, America
– Will have a democracy by the people,
– Of the people, for the people”.
– Do you remember?
– Therein you said everything, remembering
– As you must have that even as
– Jefferson was writing the Declaration
– He owned a hundred slaves,
– Remembering Rosa Parks, and Doctor King,
– Remembering that not until
– A hundred and ninety years after independence
– Did Black people get their right to vote,
– Although it had been written
– That all men are created equal
– And have unalienable rights.

Not wishing to be seen as only Black,
– You did not say all that,
– But also not wishing to be another Uncle Tom
– You knew and said that democracy
– Had arrived only some two centuries after
– The Declaration.
– Which is why you also said
– That America’s strength is not war-making
– Or the scale of her wealth, but the ideals
– Of that First Covenant
– Which now has found fruition.

Obama, how can you then not see
– That the world awaits the very same message?
– If “exceptionalism” there must be,
– Let it not be thrust like a dagger
– Into the world’s breast,
– But like the light that once issued
– From those ideals of equality
– And unalienable rights.

Could you be seen to be
– That beacon,
– The world would gladly join with you
– When you were seen to be righting
– Those that oppressed the world.
– Something you cannot do with success
– If seen as chief oppressor.

Let, therefore, from the Bush
– Rise the fire that warms all mankind
– Without fear, or greed, and favour
– Only for those who need justice the most.
– So we may with Christopher Marlowe say:
– “Black is the beauty of the brightest day.”

Failing, you risk everything,
– Most of all the faith of those who,
– In electing you, thought
– An alternate America is possible,
– And an alternate world as well.
– And many then will say, perfidiously,
– Never trust a Black man to run the country.
– Unthinkable would then be the regression
– Into bestial war and bigotry.

Take then the blessings of the world,
– And, use your clout
– To work not for the fat-cats
– In America and the nations,
– But everywhere for those
– Who for centuries have been left out.