Welcome back to the Daily Poem. I'm David Kern, and today's Monday, July 6, 2020.

The poem that I'm going to read today is by Emma Lazarus, an American poet who lived from 1849 to 1887.

The poem that I'm going to read is called the New Colossus. It's a sonnet that was written in 1883,

and you probably best know it for being the poem that was inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the

Statue of Liberty. It was installed in 1903. She wrote this poem in 1883 to raise money for the

construction of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. And then in 1903 it was actually, you know, cast onto a plaque and then, you know,

affixed to the pedestal's lower level.

If you've ever been to the Statue of Liberty, you've probably seen it.

So this poem then is in keeping with recognizing the Fourth of July holiday that we just had last Saturday a couple days ago.

So I'll read the poem, offer a few comments as usual, and then read it one more time.

And that will be it for today.

So here is The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus.

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 worldwide 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 tossed, to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Thank you. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. So I wanted to read this poem because on the one hand it's, you know,

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