“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
Written in 1883 by poet Emma Lazarus for a fundraising auction to help pay for the construction costs of the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. In 1903 the poem was mounted as a bronze plaque on the pedestal itself. The poem embodies three virtues that Taoist hold dear: Compassion, Simplicity, and Humility.
“The New Colossus”
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!”