For your birthday, I’m sending you
the sunflowers in my garden,
which is to say, I send you
something unfinished,
something with so much room
left to grow.
America, I send you
the space above the sunflowers
a space they will reach into.
There is so much promise
of beauty in you, America,
so much blossoming yet to do.
America, you’re right if you think this is symbolic.
So I send you the sunflower’s roots, too.
We all know what happens without them.
America, here’s what I most want to say—
I believe in you, America, and all the hands
that tend your soil. Happy Birthday.
It’s time to get out of your own shade.
Happy Birthday. You’ve got this.
Home of the brave.