The poem written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, an 88-year-old poet and founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, USA, is perhaps a true picture of the mindset of a nation and what’s exactly going on here.
He says:
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 by torture.
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.
Let’s stand up, join hands together to turn the tide away from Pakistan.
FAHD F ASHRAF
Islamabad