Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021)
Pity The Nation
Identified with the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco (which he founded in 1953) as well as the poets of the Beat Generation, the then 88 year old Lawrence Ferlinghetti (b. March 24, 1919) who was still active as a poet at the time of this reading wrote and recited the following sadly timeless poem in 2007. Ferlinghetti died in 2021 at the age of 101.
VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKCblAJtzgE
PITY THE NATION
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!
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 (after Khalil Gibran)
