America, Please, Listen!
Land of greatness,
Land of beauty,
Land of Laughter,
Land of dreams
Land of tears,
Hear me!
You ask me to love America.
Yes, I love America,
I love its soul of freedom,
The dignity given its people,
The freedom to think and speak,
But don’t ask me not to love my beginnings!
My first country taught
Me how to love a country.
Standing on its mighty shoulders
I can reach out and love America.
All that I bring that is best,
Mingles with America’s majesty, and I grow!
My first country taught
Me how to speak a language,
That’s why I can learn English.
If I really forgot my first language,
I would be mute! With the mighty machinery
That my first language gives me, I can learn English.
America,
To ask me to forget my beginnings,
To use only English,
To love only America,
Is to ask me to rip away my soul.
Then, what of worth is left?
I was born in the United states, and I am a US citizen. Yet, except
for Native Americans, all of our families were once immigrants.
Mary Naylor
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/america-please-listen/
