On The Pulse

Of Morning
Maya Angelou

Read by the poet

at the Inauguration of
William Jefferson Clinton
20 January 1993

On The Pulse Of Morning

Copyright 1993 by Maya Angelou

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States
by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in
Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
This poem was originally published in a softcover edition
by Random House, Inc., New York, in February 1993.
isbn 0 6 7 942 8 94 i
Cover Image:
Central Park, New York City, 1992, by Lee Friedlander
Manufactured in the United States of America 24689753

A Rock,
A River,
A Tree

Hosts to species long

since departed,
Marked the mastoden,
The dinosaur, who left
the dried tokens of
their sojourn here

On our planet floor,

Any broad alarm of
their hastening doom
IS LOST IN THE GLOOM
OF DUST AND AGES.
But today,
the Rock cries
out to us,
clearly,
forcefully,

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COME you may stand upon

my back and face your distant
destiny. But seek no haven
in my shadow, I will give you
NO HIDING PLACE
DOWN HERE.

YOU created only a little

lower than the angels, have
scorched too long in the
bruising darkness have lain too
long facedown in ignorance,
your mouth spilling words.
ARMED FOR SLAUGHTER

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Across the wall of the world.

A River sings a beautiful song.

The Rock
cries out to us today,

YOU MAY STAND UPON ME;

BUT DO NOT HIDE YOUR FACE.

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It says, COME, REST

HE RE 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.

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Yet today
I call you to
my riverside,

IF YOU WILL
STUDY WAR
NO MORE.

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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
smear across your brow
And when you yet knew you
still knew nothing.

The River sang and sings on.

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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, the
Catholic, the Muslim, the
French,the Greek, the Irish,
the Rabbi, the Priest, the
Sherik, the Gay, the Straight,
the Preacher, the privileged,
the homeless, the teacher.

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They hear. They all hear

the speaking of the tree.
They hear the first and
last of every Tree speak
to humankind today.

COME TO ME,
HERE BESIDE
THE RIVER.
PLANT YOURSELF
BESIDE THE RIVER.

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EACH OF YOU,
descendant of some passed
On traveler, has been paid for.

YOU, who gave me my

first name, YOU, Pawnee,
Apache and Seneca,
Cherokee Nation,
who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet,
left me to the employment
of other seekers

DESPERATE FOR GAIN,

STARVING FOR GOLD.

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YOU, the Turk,

the Swede, the
German, the
Scot, the Italian,
the Hungarian,
the Pole, YOU
the Ashanti, the
Yoruba, the Kru,
BOUGHT
SOLD, STOLEN,
ARRIVING ON
A NIGHTMARE
PRAYING FOR
A DREAM.

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HE RE,
RO OT YOURSELF
BESIDE ME.

I AM THAT TREE PLANTED

BY THE RIVER, WHICH
WILL NOT BE MOVED.

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I, the Rock ,
I, the River,
I, the Tree,
I am yours

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LIFT UP YOUR FACES

you have a piercing need
for this bright morning
dawning for you.

HISTORY,
despite its wrenching pain,
cannot be unlived, but
if faced with courage,
need not be lived again.

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LIFT UP YOUR EYES

UPON THIS DAY
BREAKING FOR YOU.
GIVE BIRTH AGAIN
TO THE DREAM.

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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

each new hour holds new
chances for a new beginning.

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Do not be wedded
forever to fear,
yoked eternally to
BRUTISHNESS.

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The horizon leans forward,

offering you space to place
new steps of change

HE RE, 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.

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No less to Midas than

the mendicant.
No less to you now than
no mastodon then.

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Here, on the pulse of this

new day, You may have the
grace to look up and out
and in to your sister's eyes,
and into your brother's face,
Your country and say simply
Very simply with hope

Good morning.

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22
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

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10

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14

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18
20

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Adams, Ansel. The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942.
Gelatin silver print, 15 K x 19 in. (39.37 x 48.26 cm). Collection from the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art. Copyright The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust,

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White, Minor. Galaxy, 72 N. Union Street, Rochester, 1959.

Gelatin silver print, 12 E/af x 9 in. (31.3 x 22.9 cm). Reproduced with
permission of the Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum.
Trustees of Princeton University

32

Newman, Arnold. Arrangements and Set-Up in Workroom, Florida , 1941.

Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm). Getty Images Purchase.

34

White, Minor. Rock in Sandstone, 1959.

Gelatin silver print, 10 K x 13 K in. (26.6 x 34.3 cm). Reproduced with
permission of the Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum.
Trustees of Princeton University

36

Baltz, Lewis. Tract House #22, from the portfolio The Tract Houses, 1971.
Gelatin silver print, 5 AA/af x 8 AA/af in. (14.48 x 22.1 cm). Collection from the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Copyright Estate of Lewis Baltz.

39

Frank, Robert. In Arizona, 1950.

Gelatin silver print from "The Americans", 6 C/h x 8 E/h in. (16.2 x 24.4 cm).
Photography courtesy of Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.

41

Frank, Robert. TrolleyNew Orleans, 1955.

Gelatin silver print from "The Americans", 8 E/h x 13 A/af in. (21.9 x 33.2cm).
The Metropolitan Museum, New York, Gilman Collection.

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Cunningham, Imogen. Hands and Aloe Plicatilis, 1967.

Gelatin silver print, 7 C/h x 7 in. (18.73 x 17.78 cm). Collection from the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art. Copyright The Imogen Cunningham Trust.
Cunningham, Imogen. Magnolia Bud, 1925.
Gelatin silver print, 9 C/h x 7in. (23.7 x 18 cm). Photo courtesy of WItkin Gallery, New York.
White, Minor. The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Pultneyville, New York, 1957.
Gelatin silver print, 10 A/af x 11 AE/af in. (25.5 x 30.3 cm). Reproduced with
permission of the Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum.
Trustees of Princeton University
Cunningham, Imogen. The Beach, San Francisco, 1955.
Gelatin silver print, 11 x 11 in. (25.2 x 25.4 cm). Private collection.
Adams, Ansel. Jeffrey Pines, Sentinel Dome, 19021984.
Gelatin silver print, 9 x 7 /af in. (23.5 x 18.3 cm). Photo courtesy of Ansel Adams Gallery.
Adams, Ansel. Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu, T.H., 1948.
Gelatin silver print, 7 I/af in. x 6 V in. (19.21 cm x 15.56 cm) Collection from the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art. Copyright The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
Frank, Robert. St. Petersburg, Florida, 1955.
Gelatin silver print from "The Americans", 10 I/af x 13 G/af in. (26.8 34.1 cm).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Adams, Ansel. Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, 1960.
Gelatin silver print, 7 I/af in. x 6 V in. (19.21 cm x 15.56 cm).
Used with permission of the Trustees of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
Frank, Robert. Canal Street, New Orleans, 1955.
Gelatin silver print from "The Americans", 8 E/af x 13 AA/af in. (22.7 x 34.7 cm).
The Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Frank, Robert. Fourth of July, Jay, New York, 1954.
Gelatin silver print from "The Americans", 12 K x 8 in. (31.8 x 20.3 cm).
The Art Institute of Chicago. All Rights Reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maya Angelou has written five volumes of

autobiography, beginning with I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings.
She has also published five collections of poetry:
And Still I Rise; Just Give Me a Cool Drink of
Water 'fore I Diiie; Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna
Fit Me Well; Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?; and
I Shall Not Be Moved.

ABOUT THE TYPE

This book was set in Mercury, a serif typeface

family designed by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias
Frere-Jones in 1996. Mercury is unique in that
its available in four grades. These grades have
the same width but are progressively darker in
color for different newspaper printing needs,
or even in digital contexts as well. For this book,
it was set specifically in the first grade for its
sharp corners and tightly coiled curves.
Debuted first in the pages of the Esquire magazine,
Mercury was also used in Mitt Romney's 2012
Presidential Campaign, Steven Weissman's Barack
Hussein Obama Hardcover in 2012 and also, the
Hilary Clinton's 2016 campaign designed by
Pentagram partner Micheal Bierut.