Immigrant Soul

[H2O Man]

The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus (1883)



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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


What does this poem mean to you?

[Beringia]

1. I think the meaning

is obvious, not to be cheeky about it. This country does have its own rich pomp, from the Indian heritage.

[Me.]

2. HAVEN

Home at last

[H2O Man]

3. Richie Havens

Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
A long way from my home

Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom

Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone
A long long long way way from my home

Clap your hands clap your hands
Clap your hands clap your hands
Clap your hands clap your hands
Clap your hands clap your hands
Hey yeah

I got a telephone in my bosom
And I can call him up from my heart
I got a telephone in my bosom
And I can call him up from my heart

When I need my brother brother
When I need my mother mother
Hey yeah

[Me.]

4. Him At Woodstock Singing That

The best

[H2O Man]

5. He plays

at a very small place near here, sometimes. Outstanding.

[Me.]

6. Here's Another From That Time

How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who care about evil
And social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd?
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend
How can people be so heartless
You know I'm hung up on you
Easy to give in
Easy to help out

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who say they care about social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

[BeFree]

7. Neato. Thanks

We're all immigrants.... well, except the native Americans.

[blondeatlast]

10. That song always makes me tear up. Will we EVER learn? nt

[EFerrari]

8. What does it mean to you, H2O Man?

When I read it, I finding myself asking who "me" is. And flashing on Fitzgerald's vision of an empty continent in need of human stewardship. Or, on one of those films that show a crime scene from many viewpoints like "Run, Lola, Run".

I made my first foray into Tocqueville recently. This is his very opening:

"AMONG the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of condition among the people. I readily discovered the prodigious influence that this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction to public opinion and a peculiar tenor to the laws; it imparts new maxims to the governing authorities and peculiar habits to the governed."

Maybe this young man was onto something. (But he came from privilege, too, so his assessment of "equality" was blinkered to a degree.) Tocqueville's vision was embraced here readily enough.

We like to think of ourselves in these terms.

[H2O Man]

9. To me:

It reminds me of my grandfathers. One was born a decade before the poem was written. He came to this land, along with his family, because a foreign power -- an empire -- had stolen the land that my family had lived upon for generations upon generations.

My other grandfather's family had lived here for thousands of years. That statue rests on a different block of stone than the original one. My grandfather was the head of the crew that cut that stone, from a mountain that I was walking on earlier this afternoon/evening.

[Beringia]

13. Here is a Mountain Spirit Song

sung by Johnny Moses.

It takes a minute to download, but it is very beautiful.


http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/5/21/2865807/mountainsong.wav

[blondeatlast]

11. To me, it means there is always hope and refuge. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the US remained that

glorious promise we once represented? I don't think I will live to asee the day, though.

[blondeatlast]

12. Kick because that poem always makes me cry and a good cry is good for sleep. nt