European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 22, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday january 22,1993 a commentary the stars and stripes cries out to us the associated Preecs Here is the text of the inaugural poem on the pulse of morning written by Maya Angelou and delivered at Bill Clinton s swearing in ceremony. V a Rock a River a tree hosts to species Long since departed marked the Mastodon. The Dinosaur who left dry tokens of their sojourn Here on our planet floor any Broad alarm of their hastening doom a is lost in the gloom of dust and Ages. But today the Rock cries out to us clearly forcefully come you May stand upon my Back and face your Distant destiny but seek no Haven in , i will give you no hiding place Down Here. / a. A you created Only a Little lower than the Angels have crouched too Long in the bruising darkness have lain too Long face Down in ignorance. Your Mouths spilling words armed for Slaughter. The Rock cries out to us today you May stand upon me but do not hide your face. Across the Wall of the world a River sings a Beautiful song it says come rest Here by my Side. Each of you a bordered country delicate and strangely made proud yet thrusting perpetually under siege. Your armed struggles for profit have left collars of waste upon my Shore currents of debris upon my breast. 1 a yet today i Call you to my Riverside if you will study War no More. Come Clad in peace and i will sing the songs the creator gave to me when i and the tree and the Rock were one. Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow and when you yet knew you still knew nothing. The River Sang and sings on. There is a True yearning to respond to the singing River and the Wise Rock. So say the asian the hispanic the jew the african the native american the Sioux. Maya Angelou recites her poem wednesday. Angelou a professor at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem n.c., was the first poet to read at a presidential inauguration since Robert Frost did so at president Kennedy a 1961 swearing in. The Catholic the Muslim the French the greek the Irish the rabbi the priest the sheikh the Gay the straight the preacher the privileged the homeless the teacher. They All hear the speaking of the tree. They hear the first and last of every tree Speaks to Humankind today. Come to me Here beside the yourself beside the River. Each of you descendant of some passed on traveler has been paid for. You who gave me my first name you Pawnee Apache Seneca you Cherokee nation who rested with me then Quot forced on bloody feet left me to the employment of t other seekers desperate for gain starving for Gold. You the Turk the Arab the swede the German the Eskimo the Scot. You the Ashanti the Yoruba the pm bought sold stolen arriving on a Nightmare praying for a dream Here Root yourselves beside me. 1 am that tree planted by the River which will not be moved. I the Rock i the River i the tree i am yours a your passages have been paid. Lift up your faces you have a piercing need. For this Bright morning dawning for you. A. A ,. History despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlined and if faced with courage need not be lived again. Lift up your Eves upon this Day breaking for you. Give birth again to the dream. Women children men take it into the Palms of your hands. Mold it into the shape of your most private need. Sculpt it into the image of your most Public self. Lift up your hearts a each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings. Do not be wedded forever r. To. Fear yoked eternally to britishness. The horizon leans Forward offering you space to place new Steps of change. Here on the pulse of this Fine Day you May have the courage to look up and out and upon me the Rock the River the tree your country. A no less to Midas than the mendicant. No less to you now than the Mastodon then. Here on the pulse of this new Day you May have the Grace to look up and out and into your sister s eyes and into your brother s face your country and say simply very simply with Hope Good must Lead other nations into world role president elect Clinton promised a to focus be a laser beam Quot on Domestic Economy. The priority As Correct the Promise unrealistic. In his inaugural Idress wednesday president Clinton set aside the ledge and said a to renew America we must meet Tallenger abroad As Well As at but the chaotic world awaiting emand almost All of his Atten on. And that he must resist. To resist he needs a strategy r weaning everyone off the Antral organizing principle of orld politics a that it is up to in United states to solve All problems especially the military Clinton like Woodrow Wilson will find his ugh mares coming True. A it Ould be an irony of Fate resident elect Wilson said in 912. A if my administration had l o Deal chief Zyvith foreign irony soon became reality As Europe plunged into War and his cherished Domestic Agenda perished in the trenches. Clinton confronts circumstances almost As Fate Tui it it with fewer choices. Wilson could resist Wair pm sur its for a time while other great Powers did Battle with Germany today there is no alternative to washing on readership and no substitute for . Military Leslie h. Gelb Clinton fails to Lead in Somalia Bosnia Iraq etc., other nation can or will. And if the trouble spots grow still More troublesome As some surely will he will be blamed. The republicans will Start the attack arguing that the world was a safer place before the democrats took Over. Soon voters will have forgotten George Bush s last two years As president when to fiddled while All these foreign crises festered. By that time they will be Clinton a crises. Most americans will also blame the new president even though they demonstrated Little interest in foreign affairs during the presidential Campaign and gave every evidence that they wanted him to concentrate on the Home front. They will blame him either Way a for committing . Forces and neglecting America or for staying out of harms Way and allowing foreign tinder boxes to ignite. A. Clinton showed on monday that he grasped the i. Lemma when he told diplomats in one breath that he would strive a to resolve contentious disputes and to meet the challenges of the next Century a and in the next that a America cannot and should not Bear the worlds burdens the trick for the new president will be to Lead in ways that persuade and compel other nations to assume much greater responsibility for their own Security a so that in time he can focus on Domestic priorities. Three elements must sit at the Core of such a strategy first As the sole superpower the United slates will have to continue shouldering undue burdens for a while. And Clinton will have to devote More Energy to wrestling with world problems than he wants. Otherwise foreign leaders republicans and american opinion makers will cat him alive. As much As they All realize that the United states needs to pay More attention to its own staggering problems few can tolerate a world spinning out of control. Second other nations must be persuaded to Bear far heavier burdens in confronting their own local and regional conflicts. They wont be Happy with this notion. They All have a cushy Deal now. They simply plead weakness and wait for Uncle Sam to do the dirty work. And they wont give up this Deal unless Clinton both Corners them and reassures them that America will remain by their Side. Third collective Security has to be built Brick by crumbling Brick at the United nations and in regional organizations. Competent International staffs like nato s have to be developed. Countries will have to earmark forces for joint action and train them together. They must also be made to take hard decisions together a or suffer the consequences. After a transition collective Security must be made truly collective. Clinton set the stage for such a strategy in his inaugural address. He showed he knew the United states had Quot to shape change lest it engulf he warned that when vital interests Are threatened a we will act a with peaceful diplomacy whenever possible with Force when a but our greatest strength Quot he continued a is the Power of our America remains the land of democracy and Hope a and to find the time and resources to keep it that Way Clinton paradoxically first has to get on top of the world. C the Yolk time
