Golden Door

Walking through the desert alone I find my way by each telephone pole The land that I'm leaving behind is all that I have known Dried up dreams and famine fears and now I need a new home... ..In America

Woman I love, with a baby inside If I don't work today, tomorrow will they die? I'll sell my soul, I'll sell my rights I'll sell my dignity But I can't lay my head down, or look up and pray now, until they're safe with me... ...In America

I see them watching, with fear in their eyes A rich man, guarding all the pieces of his pie He says, "Go home, get lost, shove off -- ship out, or go to Hell!" Words that hurt, and hate, and cut, and kill so well... ...From America

Last night sleeping, in my restless dreams A blue-stone lady, and she's talking to me She says, "I've watched them coming for a hundred years or more And I don't care how you crossed, what you lost, tempest tossed on my shore You're not alone, so welcome home, I lift my lamp for you

Beside the golden door...of America Beside that golden door...of America

And her promise reaches out across the oceans and across the deserts The same yesterday, today, and forever:

"Give me your tired, your poor -- Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door"

...of America.