The New Colossus

I've always loved the Statue of Liberty. I've never seen her in person. Only photos and videos. I've always lived so far away that, even knowing we were in the same country - and how she is meant to be a symbol of that country - it has always felt like she is in another world. Maybe that feeling isn't just about the distance. And while my thoughts about how much of a symbol of my country she is meant to be and how much of one she actually is may have changed over the years...oh, how I love her!

She is, to me, every woman. Every mother. Every lesbian. Every trans woman. Every woman who has fought for her own rights and the rights of others. Every woman who has known pain and committed to protect others and seek justice for them when they know pain. Every woman who serves in the military, provides medical care, or teaches. Every woman.

For most of my life, I knew only the most commonly recognized line from the poem Emma Lazarus wrote for her. I only first read the whole thing a few years ago.

The New Colossus

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!”

And I suddenly saw You! Yes, I know what the national mythology says...but I see You. I hear You. Did You whisper those words to Emma Lazarus? Of course she is beautiful! She is every woman. She is You.