All week I have been thinking about Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the majesty and magnitude of it, the cadences, the poetry and the power.

I thought a lot about words. The way they lift us, how they can 

carry us to new and better places. I passed the Statue of Liberty early this morning and those words tumbled back to me.

"'My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring.' And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true."

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-77162201/

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15615

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XBa55sDTIiA&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DXBa55sDTIiA

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175887