Rosa Parks
Rosemary Brown
the women of the Bread and Roses strike

Martin Luther King
Tommy Douglas
Nelson Mandela

Mahatma Gandhi
Mother Teresa
Stephen Lewis

Marion Dewar
Pierre Trudeau
the Aga Khan
the Dalai Lama
indigenous Nations

Jesus, Moses, Mohammed
Sufi Rabia, Buddhas
oh Mary don't you weep

Staple Singers
Pete Seeger
Come go with me
stories of Utah Phillips

John Coltrane
Miles Davis
Wes Montgomery

the sweetness, the truth
you and I
our mothers
brothers
sisters
fathers

our friends
and doctors
our nurses
and helpers

President Barack Obama
grassroots to treetops
unexpected chances

each of those
that stepped forward
created and shone
and changed the world
bore no duty
more than
you and I

could not succeed
unless we changed too

we the people
must lift the weight
and can no longer
find cynical excuses

no one person can do it alone
but we are grateful to those
who lead and serve
and must honor that station
once again
with our tears and our sweat

to end bloodshed
poverty and injustice
to defend the status of women
as equals and leaders
the rights of a child
the dignity of humanity
to live peacefully

to work and to play
to create music
sweetness and poetry
to laugh
to love
to be

to complete
globalization
from a foundation
where no bottomless pit
of cruelty
can exist

yes we can
we have a dream
America's renewal
is no longer just America
it changes the world