America Will Never Be Full
Listening to the news yesterday, and recognizing the language I heard from our leaders, I was moved to prayer. In my car, I wrote three simple lines that have become something I’d like to share.
Here’s a good discussion of the language around countries being “too full” for asylum seekers. We learned our lesson a century ago, and some want us to unlearn it:
https://www.npr.org/711169817
America, as we love it, can never be “full:” the idea of America is that all deserve freedom, all deserve a place, and there is no one who comes to our shores who does not deserve freedom.
Background image by Edward Moran: “Unveiling The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,” 1886
America Will Never Be Full
America will never be full
Until all who crash, teeming upon her shores,
Have homes and hopes and dreams to call their own.
America will never be full
Until each child and mother who seeks a better life
Is welcomed with open arms and hearts as friend.
America will never be full
Until all who flee oppression and war-torn lands
Find the safety to rekindle the fire of their ancestors.
America is built for the dreamers,
Seeking Liberty, seeking Justice,
Seeking the Light beside the Golden Door.
Let that Door swing wide.