ecce homo, imperator Americae

Tomorrow a Man

Tomorrow a man will stand and vow
Alone in the centre, there he will command
All that all survey; nations will bow
Before his accession to the largest land
On the next, triumphal, day.

Tomorrow a man will stand and vow
And he will inspire through his face
And his land; and people, cheering, wonder how
They felt it meant something, someone’s place
And the suffering will leave us like sand.

Tomorrow a man will stand and vow
But if you will cut him, red blood will pour out
From a man, not a moral. And although looking now
Shows a triumph of truth, the crowds as they shout
Enclose a real person, fast eroding, like coral.

Tomorrow a man will stand and vow
Only one in six billion will be there that day
But give time! For the life of a man is a bough
Of a tree that will grow; if it’s good, past the play-
Acting here, past the mime,

If our children still love him when it’s no longer now –
But tomorrow, a man will stand and vow.