My Grandpa was a scholar back in the old country
But he fled from Lithuania in 1893 With knowledge his companion and liberty his
home He sailed up to the Lady of the Harbor
Imagine then how beautiful that torchlight must have seemed
To a faithful Jewish immigrant caught up in freedom's dream
But the land had room for many and he studied while he worked
By the lamplight of the Lady of the Harbor
Give me your tired, your poor, your hollow masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send them the hopeless tempest-tossed to me
I lifted my lamp beside them
In 1937, with war on every hand A band of Jewish refugees sought shelter in this land
With the Nazis close behind them, they sailed their leaky boat
Towards the safety of the Lady of the Harbor
But every door was closed to them, no word would take them in
Till, sick at heart, they sailed back home to Germany again
Where their dreams were turned to ashes and their bodies turned to smoke
That drifted past the Lady of the Harbor
Give me your tired, your poor, your hollow masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send them the hopeless tempest-tossed to me
I lifted my lamp beside them
So if these silent lips could speak, what reasons would they say
Why some are sheltered freely and others turned away
And as the terror rises out of fleeing refugees
An answer from the Lady of the Harbor
All around the borders, a nightmare comes again
As homeless, stateless refugees flee desperate towards this land
So a lamp be raised to welcome them, to turn them back once more
Only silence from the Lady of the Harbor
Give me your tired, your poor, your hollow masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send them the hopeless tempest-tossed to me
I lifted my lamp beside them
I lifted my lamp beside them
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