"Wide open and unguarded stand our gates And through them presses a wild motley throng Men from the Volga and the Tartar steppes Featureless figures of the Hoang-Ho Malayan, Scythian, Teuton, Kelt, and Slav Flying the Old World's poverty and scorn These bringing with them unknown gods and rites Those, tiger passions, here to stretch their claws In street and alley what strange tongues are loud Accents of menace alien to our air Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew! O Liberty, white Goddess! Is it well To leave the gates unguarded?"

--

Source : Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1911). “The Writings of Thomas Bailey Aldrich: Poems”

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

#Passion Quotes #Men Quotes #Air Quotes