Top of the Mountain

I dwell on your shade of skin
eyes from a people once downcast
at a future in this land.
I know, I shame
my whiteness shone brighter
in the scheme of life, but

the arrival of you, new President
brings a face
infused with pride,
no longer at the back of the bus,
no more
KKK except the fulfillment
of Martin Luther King’s
impossible dream--

slow shuffles ascend to new heights,
higher mountains to overcome.

© Richard L. Provencher