A Town, in Celebration, in Tribute...

Past/Forward ~ Orangetown in Celebration

National Poetry Month Tribute April 28, 2017

Past... be this the Passion ~ Aspiration ~ Spirit ~ Treasures of breaths long gone ~ held in the memory of BEING.

Forward... be this the Faith, the Omnipresence ~ the Revelation ~ the Wondrous ~ the Aspiration ~ the Resurrection ~ the Deliverance ~ held in what IS.

It is the humanity that calls within the heart of a home, within an artifact is a vision, and intention, within a memory past, brought forward is the NOW.

A Home
Behold its walls
Held be the voices 
The dreams
Echoes of days past.

Held with the heart of a HOME...
the Harvest of a vision
the Oneness of purpose
the Manifest dream
the Eternal in the NOW.

We the keepers
We hold and speak our story
Gathered we are in acknowledgment
In celebration in humanity’s treasured glory 

Orangetown Rich in History
Rich with the treasures of settlements
With the vision of independence
With the knowing of freedom
With the glory of humanity

All that has come forth
All from the many yesterdays

And so in preservation’s name
Orangetown Rich in History makes its claim
Hold to the structures and artifacts of a day from a calendar past 
Welcome with reverence the memories and light they yet cast 
And what we allow to be, to stand
Is our grace and gratitude in knowing command
A history, a humanity, and so we hail
Orangetown Rich in History past/forward to prevail

We the keepers
We hold and speak our story
Embrace be time, humanity’s treasured glory.

Thank You.

Rose Marie Raccioppi 
Poet Laureate 
Orangetown, New York