An election reflection: Raising the dead

The shouting, the joyous shouting
I didn’t expect it but here we are
People line the streets, screaming and cheering
We lean out the windows, outside and united, united, un-tied
After months of nail biting waiting, we are free!
Flags waving in the wind, roman candles flying in the night
We believed, we believed, we are alive.
There is a we now, by the way –
There's a them, but there's also an us
And they are hiding today.
A text from a friend – ”I guarantee none of us will forget this day.”
And I guarantee that he’s right.

I see carload after carload of students go by, roiling in revelry,
Pounding on the horn
I see an elderly couple waving their arms and cheering
We cheer back! 
Today is a joyous day, oh happy day, oh beautiful day
We are reborn, we are all babies who have seen so much already
There is so much left to do and it’s so hot for November.
I see a little kid on top of the car waving a sign: “Suck it Trump!”
We film the impromptu parade because we know we will want to show our small town friends.

Party In the USA comes on the radio
It’s so fitting I almost cry.
Queens and Kings comes on next. We turn up the volume. 
A text from my mom: “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Turns out women are people!”
Her joy rings true and I remember how she cried four years ago. 
I remember and the embers dance higher.

As we passed the cemetery, I think of our shouts raising the dead, for today is a sort of judgment day
I wonder what they would think, those governors and lieutenants and generals
Some of them fought for the winners before 
When once more our country was divided
What would they say today? When they saw our joy? 
When they heard our breathless gasps for sweet, clear air?
We are masked, but we are not gagged, and our voices will raise the sky.