"Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced"

[kpete]

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI:
You know, I’d like to read one poem that I just wrote. I really want to get this out.

AMY GOODMAN: Read.

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI: Especially since Khalil Gibran has been in the news lately, including yesterday or the day before on your program. “Pity the Nation,” after Khalil Gibran.

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.

AMY GOODMAN: Lawrence Ferlinghetti. So what about the state of the world today and our role in it?

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI: It’s rushing over the cliff.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/03/138216