Human history and civilization has travelled long to come to this era of digital artificial intelligence information tech world; where any human with no education can have a wealth of information right in his palm. The world should have been at peace with each other, however that's not the case. Nations are still failing and therefore, some work on the topic "Pity the Nation" who fail despite all the knowledge available for the previous failing nations; Here work from Khalil Gibran, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Wang Ping is being shared.
― Kahlil Gibran, a famous writer has said in his book "The Garden of The Prophet"
“Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave
and eats a bread it does not harvest.
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
yet submits in its awakening.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
and whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into fragments,
each fragment deeming itself a nation.”
~Lawrence Ferlinghetti; An American Poet has said following:-
(Book: Ferlinghetti's Greatest Poems https://amzn.to/49qBP5s)
Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.
Pity the Nation by Wang Ping ( Wang Ping has published thirteen books of poetry and prose.)
after Ferlinghetti
Pity the nation whose freedom melts faster than
Arctic ice
Whose justice defends sex predators & puts children
in jail.
Pity the nation that sells academia into corporate
fiefdoms
Whose presidents scream “Not enough” with their
million-dollar package
Who hike up tuitions to shackle students with debts
Who turn professors into adjuncts and intellectual
slaves.
Pity the nation branding youths with Divide &
Conquer logos
Who learn how to get rewards by ordering WOC
professors to “take down the syllabi!”
Calling them “racists & appropriators” as public
shaming.
Pity the nation whose education becomes “just
business”
Its giant machine squeezing hefty tuitions from
Chinese and other Asians
Who sell blood and kidneys to send their children to
America for a degree.
Oh pity the nation whose president churns lies like
popcorn
Whose students get presidential awards for libeling
Grandpas from the Rez
For yelling “you should feel lucky I find your words
good enough to plagiarize”
To her professors who try to teach academic integrity.
Pity the nation as her Lady weeps for children filling
up the cages along the border
Her torch stolen to slow-burn the soles, palms, and
tongues of defiant students.
Pity the nation that bans professors from campus and
rewards cheaters and mediocrity
That condemns poetry for “manipulating emotions”
That bullies truth into silence
That gags science, deletes data, exiles facts into
deserts
That wires classrooms with eyes and ears to break
spirits.
Oh pity the nation that builds its high tower upon the
bones of the Natives, slaves, coolies, Asian American
scholars, LGTBQ artists, immigrant poets . . .
Oh pity!
Oh let’s pity the nation with actions!
Let’s stand together for truth.
Freedom is never free.
Freedom takes courage, our flesh and spirit.
But it’s worth it.
It’s our reason to live—with tears of joy, joy of pride
In this land of the free and brave.