"Yes We Can" - the poem, based on a speech by Barack Obama

"Yes We Can" - the poem, transcribed from a video based on a speech by Barack Obama.

  
            Yes We Can 

It was a creed, written into the founding documents
That declared the destiny of a nation:
  
    Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists
As they blazed a trail for freedom:

    Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from the shores,
Pioneers who pushed westward aginst the unforgiving wilderness:

   Yes we can.

It was a call of workers organized,
Women who reached for the ballots,
A president who chose the moon as our new frontier,
And a King who took us to the mountaintop,
And pointed the way to the promised land:

Yes we can, to justice and equality.

   Yes we can.

Yes we can, to opportunity and prosperity,
Yes we can, to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.

  Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long.
But always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way,
Nothing can stand in the way of the power
Of millions of voices calling for change.

   We want change.

We have been told we cannot do this, by a chorus of cynics
That will only grow louder and more dissonant.
We have been asked to pause for a reality check.
We've been warned against offering the people of this nation, false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America,
There has never been anything false about hope.

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