PITY THE NATION

Adapted from KHALIL GIBRAN’S original poem of the same title

Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture

Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own

Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed

Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

featured image by Harry Sternberg

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Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born March 24, 1919 ) is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. He is best known for " A Coney Island of the Mind" (New York: New Directions, 1958), a collection of poems that has been translated into nine languages, with sales of over 1 million copies.

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