Poetry in Motion
Washington D.C.
The Door
E. Ethelbert Millerthe day after the national election
the sky cleared and the sun found its guitar.
i ran to the plaza and soon discovered myself
dancing in the middle of a jubilant crowd.
a nation of song, a nation of thousands pushing
like the sea to the cathedral. i found my place
among the living, the dead, the ghosts, the children
waiting to be born. something more powerful than
victory was in the air. i could breathe again.
my prison door was open. my country was outside.
she had been waiting for me.
"The Door" from First Light: New and Selected Poems by E. Ethelbert Miller. Copyright © 1994 by E. Ethelbert Miller. Reprinted with permission of the author.