Esme and I attended the Boston Protest Against Muslim Ban and Anti-Immigration Orders this afternoon. We read signs, we chanted with the crowd and we stood respectfully as our Muslim brothers and sisters knelt to pray. We had some new and meaningful discussions (with each other and also with those around us on the T and in Copley Sq.) and we listened closely when other told their stories.

The New Colossus

By Emma Lazarus, 1883

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!”