At Sunday night’s Tony Awards, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda read an original sonnet to remember the victims of the Orlando shootings.
While receiving the award for best original score, Miranda pulled out a 16-line poem that paid tribute to the 49 individuals killed at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning. Widely praised, the poem brought many in the audience to tears.
@Lin_Manuel had us sobbing with his #Tonys acceptance sonnet. #loveisloveisloveisloveislove
— birdbath (@supercrashley) June 13, 2016
“I hadn’t heard about the day’s events until after our Tony rehearsal,” Miranda told reporters after the show. “I had this time between rehearsal and tonight to sit and think about what I would say if I would be lucky enough to be called up. And it sort of informed all of it, obviously. We live in this world where beautiful and horrible things exist at the same time."
Read the full text of Miranda’s poem here:
My wife’s the reason anything gets done
She nudges me towards promise by degrees
She is a perfect symphony of one
Our son is her most beautiful reprise.
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day.
This show is proof that history remembers
We lived through times when hate and fear seemed stronger;
We rise and fall and light from dying embers,
Remembrances that hope and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love
Is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story
Now fill the world with music, love and pride.