One of the most striking moments of Biden's inauguration was the moving poem delivered by Amanda Gorman, the nation's first-ever youth poet laureate.
Amanda Gorman made history Wednesday as the youngest poet in recent history to read a poem at a presidential inauguration. Gorman, 22, read her own poem at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Her poem opened by asking, “Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”
"Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished. We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming President, only to find herself reciting for one," the 22-year-old Gorman said in her poem, titled "The Hill We Climb."
"We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it," Gorman recited. "Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated."
“We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be. A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.”
The Los Angeles native told NPR she finished writing the poem, titled "The Hill We Climb," on the night of Jan. 6, hours after rioters took part in a siege on Capitol Hill.
With young people like her, we can remain hopeful for our nation's future.