We’re Still Standing

By Jeanne Moore

We are still standing—

after months that dragged like years

after lies peeled off norms & laws

leaving raw hypocrisy exposed.

Deceit grew arms.

Hate sharpened claws.

Loyalists intoxicated with power sowed division

Countries invaded on whims

Good people murdered and maligned.

What we have lost:


A Justice Department with no justice.

Brown-skinned neighbors threatened, hooded, disappeared.

Voting rights thinning to shadows.


Truth drowned by campaigns of distortion.


Checks and balances splintered.


Institutions bent—
but we did not.

We will not sit at the feet of fascists.


We will not bow to bullies masquerading as leaders.


We will not stumble backward
 on the long, unfinished road to equality.

We stand for fairness, for kindness,


for a justice that does not flinch
when tested by fire.

We see.
We hear.
We stand.

And now, together, we see it—


a future lit from within:


where love is spoken out loud,


where the earth is honored as kin,


where science and learning guide our hands,


and freedom moves through all.

Lock arms.


Hold ground.

We’re still standing.

We’re still standing.


We’re still standing!


Let us march.