<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="white-space: pre-wrap; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(8, 8, 9); font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 22px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">For Alex Jeffrey Pretti</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We wake with</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">no words, just woe</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">& wound. Our own country shoot</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ing us in the back is not just brutal</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ity; it’s jarring betrayal; not enforcement,</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">but execution. A message: Love your people & you</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">will die. Yet our greatest threat isn’t the outsiders</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">among us, but those among us who never look</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">within. Fear not the those without papers, but those</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">without conscience. Know that to care intensively,</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">united, is to carry both pain-dark horror for today</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">& a profound, daring hope for tomorrow. We can feel</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">we have nothing to give, & still belove this world wait</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ing, trembling to change. If we cannot find words, may</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">we find the will; if we ever lose hope, may we never lose our</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">humanity. The only undying thing is mercy, the courage to open</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">ourselves like doors, hug our neighbor,</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">& save one more bright, impossible life.</span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><br style="white-space: normal; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- Amanda Gorman</span></div></div><div style="white-space: pre-wrap; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(8, 8, 9); font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; font-variant-ligatures: normal;"><div><br></div></div><div style="font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; font-variant-ligatures: normal;"></div></div></div></body></html>