Invocation 

The story of a nation’s rise

in global prominence 

let me speak

without hypocrisy 

its rich veins, its blood

lines spreading out, 

listening to the voices

of those who lived simply 

for themselves

and others  

in the

heartland of their history, 

soil and memory

and desire, 

without making

headlines or being elected 

or even being heard

except within these lyric pages.