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 world-wide 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-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Please read and sign our Open Letter to the Church: The Humanitarian Crisis at the US-Mexico Border.

Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) was an American poet, writer, and translator from New York City. Her sonnet “The New Colossus,” written in 1883, appears on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. 

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