<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">Pity The Nation </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(After Khalil Gibran)</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">Pity the nation whose people are sheep,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">and whose shepherds mislead them.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">sages are silenced,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">Pity the nation that raises not its voice,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">as hero</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">and aims to rule the world with force and by</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">torture.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">Pity the nation that knows no other language but</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">its own</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">and no other culture but its own.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">Pity the nation whose breath is money</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">Pity the nation--oh, pity the people who allow</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">their rights to erode</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">and their freedoms to be washed away.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>- Lawrence Ferlinghetti</div><div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">"the path to heaven</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> doesn’t lie down in flat miles.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> It’s in the imagination</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> with which you perceive</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> this world,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> and the gestures</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> with which you honor it.”</div></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Mary Oliver</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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