Mother of Exiles

In the United States, we celebrate Memorial Day today. This is one of my favorite holidays, because it gives me a chance to reflect on who I am, where I live, those who have gone on before me, my responsibilities as an American, and my gratitude and thankfulness to the One and the ones who give us our freedoms.

I also pause to think about those two children in a faraway place that will immigrate to this land of hope and opportunity, greeted by the Mother of Exiles.

The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus
1883

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!"