sunday poem and song, books and dinner

 

 the new colussus

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 breath free,

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

i lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

by emma lazarus (1849-1887)

friday, july 22nd, was emma lazarus's birthday. read an essay about her poem and the statue of liberty at this link here.

 

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the first unitarian of brooklyn congregation sang blue boat home during the service this morning. it's one of my favorite songs (sung to a welsh hymn, hyfrydol). (i've posted this before . . it's really lovely.)

 

it's been very, very hot . . just a day for lying about and reading . . i read jane austen's persuasion in half a day, which i was happy about as it took me over a month to finish mary taylor simeti's on persephone's island. of course the former was a story that rolled easily from page to page and the later was stuffed with an immense amount of cultural, archeologoical and botanical information that i was trying to understand.

fresh tomatoes and leftovers tonight for dinner.

walking past emma lazarus' house

we often walk by emma lazarus' house on our way to jefferson market library from third street music school. it sits at 18 west 10th street, and we made a special visit there today after reading the book emma's poem, by elizabeth glaser.


emma grew up the fourth child of seven children born to a portuguese sephardic jewish couple whose families had been settled in nyc since colonial times.

emma was a scholar. she studied several languages, german, french and italian, and also studied american and british literature. she loved to write and the new colossus was written for the fundraiser to build a pedestal for the statue of liberty. many well-known writers contributed to this fundraiser, including walt whitman and mark twain, but only emma's poem was read the night of the celebration. emma asked herself, what if this statue were a real woman? what might she think when she saw all these displaced people coming from other countries looking for a safe home, and a better way of living? emma worked with the immigrants on ward's island, helping them learn english and find jobs in their new country. emma knew of the hardships they had come from, and their desire to make a better life.

The New Colossus
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!"
(Emma Lazarus, 1883)