New Dawn

for the inauguration of Dr. Dorcey Applyrs

Photo credit: Robert Cooper

They say time flies but today, we remember

how long it took to get here.

Today, we bear witness to the weight of centuries,

milestones skipping the length of the Hudson.

Today, our eyes take in the evidence of a new dawn,

Look how the clock moves without our permission

how even while we sleep, the sun is busy

shining on a place we cannot see

How even when the clouds block the sun,

it never ceases to rise to the occasion

shining like only a new day can.

Do you know what happens to a dream deferred?     

It remembers.

lingers in the crevices of time

fights to stay alive

Makes raisins tastes like grapes turned into wine

It repeats like a song to itself I belong, I belong,

I belong. Looks like an American dream,

sounds like a four-hundred-year-old prayer

In the name of the Mohican, the Mohawk,

the Myers, Jefferson Street, Johnson, Greene

Garnet, Rapp Road, Morrison, Mott

Blake, Smith, Arbor Hill, the Underground

Railroad, the First Ward to the first Black mayor

the first

the first

In the name of memories and legacies

we cannot wait for the dream

we must become it.

for every unmarked grave

for every forgotten name

for every open hand

for all the blood, sweat and tears soaked into this land

for all the stories only time can tell

from Quail to Eagle

Dove and Lark, Swan and Hawk

Oldest city of New York,

Albany, the city that grows wings in its streets.

Today, we find out how far we can fly

It is already tomorrow, somewhere.

May we be like time,

an unrelenting move forward,

one hand in front of the next

We are the once in a new moon,

a wrinkle in the vortex

What comes next is our breath

and what we do with right now,

right now.

---

D. Colin ©2026

Read on January 1st at Empire State Plaza Convention Center for the swearing-in ceremony of Dr. Dorcey Applyrs, first Black mayor, first person of color and youngest ever mayor of Albany, NY. You can watch the entire swearing-in ceremony HERE. The timestamp for this poem 1:24:36.

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