"Pity the Nation..." Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[Stonepounder]

“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

Video of Ferlinghetti reading 'Pity the Nation' at:
https://bit.ly/2lEpHHu

[Brother Buzz]

2. "Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality....

which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[WhiteTara]

3. K&R

[Pendrench]

4. Hi Stonepounder - thank you for posting this!

One of my favorite poems

I was actually luck enough to have Mr. Ferlingetti sign a copy for me.

Tim

[Stonepounder]

5. That's awesome!!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. He wrote this in 2007, during the Bush administration.

He's still alive, 99 years old. I wonder if he's still writing?