Pity the Nation

“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 with 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.”


―Lawrence Ferlinghetti, activist poet and playwright, “Pity the Nation” (After Khalil Gibran), 2007. View reading by the poet. (Thanks to alert WORDster Kathleen Franklin)

• Editorial Comment: As another current thinker might put it: Sad.

peezpix by Ted Pease

Peony Weeps

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“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard