The poem “The New Colossus” was written in 1883 by Emma Lazarus. In 1903, the poem was engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the lower level of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

Lyrics

The New Colossus
(Lyrics by Emma Lazerus, Music by Winston Apple)

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs, astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning
And her name – Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Music © 2014 Gary Winston Apple.