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Here's Where You Can Watch Amanda Gorman's Moving Inauguration Poem

"For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us."

by Casey Suglia

The first U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate moved the nation with her words just after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office. And, thankfully, rewatching Amanda Gorman's Inauguration Day poem is easy.

On Jan. 20, Gorman read her poem, "The Hill We Climb," which included powerful lines such as, "For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us." The 22-year-old writer, Harvard graduate, and first U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate is officially the youngest inaugural poet to speak at Inauguration Day.

The moving, original poem she recited at Biden's inauguration touched on unity and a new chapter for the United States. Gorman told Vogue that writing "The Hill We Climb" for the inauguration was "incredibly daunting" considering how many people would be listening and watching at home. "The difficult thing about writing a poem like this is that you want to write it for a country, but you also want it to be accessible," she said. "You want it to be representative of all of the colors and characters of people who might be watching it." And Gorman accomplished just that.

How To Rewatch It Again & Again

It's easy. You can rewatch Gorman reading her poem, which focuses on unifying the country, on YouTube and be overcome with chills all over again.

You Can Also Read The Transcript

Click on this link to read the full transcript of "The Hill We Climb." The beautiful poem is more than 700 words in its entirety, but here is a preview:

So let us leave our country better than the one we were left with. Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the West. We will rise from the wind-swept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover in every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country. Our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shame aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light. If only we are brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it.

A lyrical picture book including "The Hill We Climb" and accompanying illustrations is also currently available for pre-order. While the publish date has been announced yet, you can watch Gorman's recitation of her poem again and again.