July 4, 2022

by Nancy Harb Almendras
(DA Germany)

Give me your tired and give me your poor

Is a phrase the school children never hear

Anymore.

We’ve lost our hope and are programmed to fear.

Yet, consider, on this Fourth of July.

Our moms and dads from the old country came

Their trades, expertise once easy to ply.

Look, today’s seekers harbor the same dream.

Even now the summer of our discontent

Some forge ahead in hopes of better days

And will never give up, never relent

Although for all the efforts, little pays.

Hard to strive amid such disunity

My country, land of opportunity?

The Immigrant's Statue - Statue Of Liberty National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)