Navigating the Dangerous Currents of Global Concern

Text and a video of Obama’s Berlin speech here.

It’s heroic, Homeric stuff, poetic and full of hope that we’ll soon round the corner and create a world without fear. The words as they’re spoken are laid out in dactyls, a waltz of a speech, not a march.

Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace.

This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without
nuclear weapons.

These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people – everywhere – became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation – our generation – must make our mark on the world.

People of Berlin – and people of the world – the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.

* * *

Softly the Angelus sounded and over the roofs of the village
Columns of pale blue smoke like clouds of incense ascending
Rose from a hundred hearths the homes of peace and contentment
Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers
Dwelt in the love of God and of man Alike were they free from
Fear that reigns with the tyrant and envy the vice of republics
Neither locks had they to their doors nor bars to their windows

* * *

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies

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