With heartfelt emotion, Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda delivered a sonnet he wrote as a thank-you speech for winning Best Score at the 70th Annual Tony Awards.
“I’m not freestyling, I’m too old,” he quipped. “I wrote you a sonnet instead.”
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In it, he thanks his wife Vanessa for being his creative inspiration and motivation.
He then goes on to honour the victims of the Orlando shooting tragedy that took place early Sunday morning at a nightclub, leaving 50 people dead and 53 injured.
“We chase the melodies that seem to find us until they’re finished songs and start to play,” he read. “When senseless acts of tragedy remind us that nothing here is promised, not one day.”
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Here is the sonnet in full:
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 live through times when hate and fear seem stronger/ We rise and fall and light from dying embers remembrance that hope and love last forever.
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. [we] fill the world with music, love, and pride.
(You can watch Miranda read his sonnet in the video, above.)
Tonys host James Corden also delivered a short monologue at the beginning of the ceremony, offering a tribute to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. You can watch that below.
The Tony Awards created a special ribbon to honour all of those affected by the tragedy.