A New Colossus

Oppos’d the great Copper Lady of old,
Who loved the tired, the poor, the huddled mass,
Who welcom’d from afar numbers untold,
A new colossus stands, its meaning crass.
A new colossus, monument to hate,
Its edifice imposing, a great wall
Against influx stands. Be gone, it’s too late.
“You don’t belong!” its cry. From Grace, our fall.
Gift of fraternité et liberté,
Her torch illumin’d the darkness of fear,
Will her nation stand with her on this day?
Does the omen ill portent, our end near?
Her torch burns brighter still, tomorrow must
A new day be, a phoenix from the dust.

~Ian Van Sice

Inspired by Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, the poem enshrined in the Statue of Liberty.