by 
Pity The Nation
– Khalil Gibran, 1933, “The Garden of the Prophet”
Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
yet submits in its awakening.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
“PITY THE NATION”
– Lawrence Ferlinghetti (After Khalil Gibran) 2007
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
By 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
Link HERE for more of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poetry
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Okay … try and try again … i said that these were brilliant poems and that they seemed to have President Trump in mind when they referenced how bad political leaders might go …
Jac
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I agree even though they were written before him. There have always been leaders who are a problem. Sigh! We never learn, it seems.
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These poems are inspiring and brilliant and also seem to have President Trump in mind as an object of their words.
Jac D. Bulk
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PITY THE NATION
Devouring its own entrails
For want of better nutrition
Glued to a sofa and a screen
All the bigger all the better
All the better to eat you up
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Amen!
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Nice post. I see you have a new (to me) icon. 🙂
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🙂
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You know, your stuff hadn’t been coming up in my reader. I was surprised to see you there suddenly.
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Not all surprises are nasty. 😉
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Frighteningly prescient…
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Yes! I agree, Nancy.
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“plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr ….yet in 2019 both poems ring truer than ever…a poem for the 2020 U.S. election indeed…hopefully our newly elected U.S. President will be at least marginally literate.
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Amen!
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I bow to the masters.!
“Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves.”
I also liked this.
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Gibran had the capacity to touch people’s hearts with his works. He was a remarkable Lebanese writer. If you want to know more about his background and his opinions on Lebanon, check out my latest post!
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Love – “Pity the nation whose leaders are liars Whose sages are silenced”😍
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I know. Powerful, huh?
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I have been missing you. Still catching up! xox
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Both of these are excellent. I love all things cynical…
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They are both very powerful – after reading them I felt like I had been in prayer. Thanks, Jamie.
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They are aren’t they. And in restrospect, both are certainly prescient.
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