To a Friend on His Election to an Inner-City Board of Education

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Video Music: The Fall. By Peter Rudenko. Performed by Peter Rudenko at the Free Music Archive under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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Congratulations on your victory
Over those who'd labor in your stead.
Now that you have won, the road ahead
Gives pause: for what good soul-elect can be
Respondent to such need? Or happily
Attendant on such pain? It's often said
That power corrupts, but your audacious tread
Unheard might leave its footprints on the sea.
Little can one do, yet much is asked
As life responds to policy unfazed,
Taking, just perhaps, a hopeful turn.
Intending good, one is widely tasked,
Open to rebuke, and rarely praised,
Needing faith to change, as one must learn,
Scenes on which all helpless long have gazed.

Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.

Video Music: The Fall. By Peter Rudenko. Performed by Peter Rudenko at the Free Music Archive
under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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