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The World's Justice.

By Emma Lazarus

Topics: classic

If the sudden tidings came     That on some far, foreign coast,     Buried ages long from fame,     Had been found a remnant lost     Of that hoary race who dwelt     By the golden Nile divine,     Spake the Pharaoh's tongue and knelt     At the moon-crowned Isis' shrine -     How at reverend Egypt's feet,     Pilgrims from all lands would meet!     If the sudden news were known,     That anigh the desert-place     Where once blossomed Babylon,     Scions of a mighty race     Still survived, of giant build,     Huntsmen, warriors, priest and sage,     Whose ancestral fame had filled,     Trumpet-tongued, the earlier age,     How at old Assyria's feet     Pilgrims from all lands would meet!     Yet when Egypt's self was young,     And Assyria's bloom unworn,     Ere the mythic Homer sung,     Ere the gods of Greece were born,     Lived the nation of one God,     Priests of freedom, sons of Shem,     Never quelled by yoke or rod,     Founders of Jerusalem -     Is there one abides to-day,     Seeker of dead cities, say!     Answer, now as then, THEY ARE;     Scattered broadcast o'er the lands,     Knit in spirit nigh and far,     With indissoluble bands.     Half the world adores their God,     They the living law proclaim,     And their guerdon is - the rod,     Stripes and scourgings, death and shame.     Still on Israel's head forlorn,     Every nation heaps its scorn.

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"If the sudden tidings came..."

This evocative piece by Emma Lazarus, titled "The World's Justice.", represents a masterful exploration of classic. The lines capture a profound emotional resonance... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Emma Lazarus

"If the sudden tidings came..." by Emma Lazarus

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Emma Lazarus

About Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) was an American poet best known for "The New Colossus," whose lines "Give me your tired, your poor" are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. She was an early advocate for Jewish refugees and anti-Semitism awareness.

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