September 29, 2008
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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.–
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
