(I was honored to be a speaker at this year’s City of Wheeling Martin Luther King Interfaith Gathering for Freedom. I read this poem, which I wrote especially for the occasion.)
We Walked
away from Auschwitz, to the Indian Ocean,
Selma to Montgomery, Syria to the sea; in
many different moments, daring to believe.
We walked, and still we walk. Walking is the work
we do. We make our salt and are free, confront
regimes, reach, defy, come to do and be.
We simply say we have had enough. Even now,
from Wheeling’s heights we walked the way.  In
winter’s stiletto chill, our choirs and cantors pray.
Footsteps for statements, miles soar like hymns,
we walked, and still we walk, marking the pain
living the gain; we feel our strength along the way.
Marching for reconstruction, arching all obstructions,
walking is the work we do, tilling unbroken earth with
shoes. We walked, and still we walk, and will continue.
A Weelunk Partnership with Dateline:Wheeling.
For more great Lee Chottiner stories, poetry and images that focus on Wheeling, WV, click the link below:
Photo Courtesy Wikipedia