ESSAY CEMETERY

  1492     Thou two-faced year, Mother of Change and Fate, // The I nquisition Didst weep when Spain cast forth with flaming sword,  The children of the prophets of the Lord,  Prince, priest, and people, spurned by zealot hate. // hatred of Jews Hounded from sea to sea, from state to state,  The West refused them, and the East abhorred.  No anchorage the known world could afford,  Close-locked was every port, barred every gate.  Then smiling, thou unveil’dst, O two-faced year,  A virgin world where doors of sunset part, //  People died and were exiled but at least Columbus discovered America Saying, "Ho, all who weary, enter here!  There falls each ancient barrier that the art  Of race or creed or rank devised, to rear  Grim bulwarked hatred between heart and heart!" // In America the barriers of race creed and rank that make people hate one another fall.

The New Colossus  1883    Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,  //  A famous Greek Colossus With conquering limbs astride from land to land;  Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand //  Warm, welcoming words A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame  // The gatekeeper of America is a woman 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 //  She says America doesn't need fancy ancient histories 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-tost to me,  I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" // Everyone's welcome in America