Liberty Island Greeting

Behold our modern Liberty Island greeting:
A Starbucks cup for her torch,
A medallion around her neck,
A GAP sign in her arm.
There’s a gap in our thinking:
“God bless Armani, brand that I love?”
It’s all good fun and games
But there has to be an end.

Take Justice’s blind blade to her flesh.
Drain the Black Blood corroding her arteries
And giving thirst to her heart.
Cut open her crown so the world can see her blurred dreams.
Lead her to Boston, Philadelphia, and Monticello,
Awaken our Fathers to their legacy—
The Innocent Virgin wronged.

Let the faces on Mount Rushmore cringe in pain
And the Bell of Liberty split asunder;
America awakes to her Nightmare.
United we stood,
Destiny we manifested,
Freedom we defended.
Are we getting along?
Are we at our Promised Land?
Are we free at all?

We once took it easy and journeyed forth
But our energy had limits
Our head grew heavy and our sights dimmed
We stopped our journey
We forgot we couldn’t buy a stairway to Heaven
In our delirious sleep
The immigrant’s songs are now but lies
As we awaken in the storm

Behold our modern Liberty Island greeting:
Her flame burns faint,
Her robes grimily stained,
Her tablet corroded to illegibility.
We all once had our dreams, but they
Floated away in a river of blood, tears, words, guns, flowers, and drugs.
Behold our modern Liberty Island greeting:
Only her heart knows our old vigor,
Only her eyes see what we’ve become,
Only her tears chronicle our journey.