JULY IV MDCCLXXVI
Tear down tear down
the Statue of Liberty
it doesn't say
what it said before.
Or somehow somewhere
the meaning has gone astray
words on a plaque
no more.
The famous Lazarus sonnet
you know the one.
The New Colossus has grown
old...senile.
Her "imprisoned lightning "
the forgotten flame
her forgotten name
"THE MOTHER OF EXILES."
"Give me your...." Yeah...yeah!
"...your tired, your poor..." Sure...sure
- heard it all before.
"...huddle masses yearning to breathe
free..." I mean....really.
Yadda Yadda Yadda the words
ring false...the chimes of freedom
oh don't make me laugh
"...the wretched refuse of your teeming shore..." Words words
nothing more!
The New Collosus weeps
her green tears
the tarnished golden door
"...the homeless tempest tossed"
our indignation soon lost.
"La Liberté éclairant le monde?"
Trump is in his
White House and
all's not right
with the world.
****
THE NEW COLOSSUS
EMMA LAZARUS
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
