To Congress

From In Us This Day
by Alberto Rios

... Sometimes, we are brutal and dark green.
We are the fishhook thorns on the wild cactus.
But sometimes as well, we are the sky itself,
That great blue living room filled with endless space
In every direction there is to see. We are,
As things turn out, the answer and the problem both.
Every day we must choose our suit of clothes.

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Another excerpt from Alberto Rios. This one is from Sustainable Courage:

When we breathe the air, will we keep it clean? Every day,
What we do extends us, me to you, you to me, neighbor to neighbor,
All of us in action. All of us affected. We have learned—
And learning is everything—that even the smallest act matters.
We are all students opening the book of our past and reading
The possibility of our future: Can we look back and ask,
Is it good, the ripple that happens in our wake?
Yes, we say, starting today. Yes, we say, for tomorrow.