While the visual impact of what may have been the most watched transfer of power from one administration to another ever was vivid and stunning, it is the words that linger long after the images have begun to fade.

While, as always, the well-worn lyrics of The Star Spangled Banner, This Land Is Your Land, America The Beautiful and Amazing Grace, moved millions, they were overshadowed on this occasion by the words of a 22-year-old poet and the 78-year-old grandfather chosen to lead Americans at one of the most challenging times in their history.

The presentation by Youth National Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and President Biden's inaugural address have resonated so strongly around the world because, although they were addressing very recent events, their messages were timeless and universal.

One of the most striking passages, which cut to the very heart of citizenship, was Ms Gorman's opening observation that: "When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never ending shade? And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.

"Somehow we do it. Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken but simply unfinished".

The theme, that despite its 244 years of existence as a united and democratic country America is still a work in progress, was also seized upon by President Biden.

It is ironic that, after being constantly derided as "Sleepy Joe" over the entire course of the campaign, he delivered what must surely be the most powerful inaugural addresses of this century to date.

It will certainly be remembered, and quoted, long after the former President, who was never mentioned by name and left Washington to the strains of I did it My Way, has disappeared from the political scene.

President Biden's calls for unity, his appeals to Americans to draw inspiration from their nation's history, and his repeated pledges to govern for all Americans, not just the ones who voted for him, struck absolutely the right note on this day and at this hour.

"Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge," he said.

"Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause, a cause of democracy. The will of the people has been heard - and the will of the people has been heeded".

The new commander-in-chief's self-effacing observation that "the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all us. On we the people who seek a more perfect union" was the perfect rebuttal to Trump's tedious claims to exceptionalism.

His willingness to call out extremism, white supremacy, lawlessness, stinging inequity, systemic racism, violence, disease, joblessness and despair has a relevance that extends far beyond the US.

Australia too has its own divisions, its purveyors of "alternative facts", false narratives, and ongoing injustices.

We too are an "unfinished nation" that still has much to do before we are the best we can be.

Australians should take heart from President Biden's message to the world that "America has been tested and we've come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances, and engage with the world once again... we'll lead not merely by the example of our power but the power of our example".

If this truly is to be the new style of American leadership then, for the first time in a long time, the US could become Lincoln's "the last best hope of earth".