Lawrence Ferlinghetti
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.
Can't see the forest for the trees,
Humans don't think that trees think much.
Tree thoughts are dif'rent, if you please.
We trees do like to keep in touch.
Through roots, we share food underground
To help the weaker to survive.
We air warn bad bugs do abound,
So tanninize to stay alive.
We trees do know the human threat,
The urge for profit to destroy.
We can't do much about that yet.
Hope's in each human girl and boy.
Where there's a will there is a way,
As human youth climb us to play.