Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AT ELLIS ISLAND, by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS First Line: We speak of them as but a crazy bunch Last Line: Awaiting what were idle to protest. Subject(s): Ellis Island, New York Harbor; Immigrants; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration | ||||||||
We speak of them as but a crazy bunch Of huddled immigrants, and we forget What dreams have crumbled, how with woe beset They crouch here, crowded, garrulous, and munch Their moldy crusts, their promised land denied. Through dreary years they planned and saved and dreamed Against the time that long in coming seemed, That come, will neither home nor friends provide. They had been told that freedom here is found, That great goodwill is ever manifest, The poor not scorned, the helpless never crushed. Heart-stricken now, confused by word and sound, They seem like frightened animals ambushed, Awaiting what were idle to protest. | Other Poems of Interest...I AM YOUR WAITER TONIGHT AND MY NAME IS DIMITRI by ROBERT HASS EVERYDAY WE GET MORE ILLEGAL by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA EUROPE AND AMERICA by DAVID IGNATOW EUROPE AND AMERICA by DAVID IGNATOW THE VIEW AT GUNDERSON'S by JOSEPH WARREN BEACH MEETING YOU AT THE PIERS by KENNETH KOCH IN THE GLORIOUS YEMEN RESTAURANT by KHALED MATTAWA THE DREAM SONGS: 234. THE CARPENTER'S SON by JOHN BERRYMAN |
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