A Day With Lady Liberty

By Hanako

 

As we glide underground

In the silver blur of the subway

My friends play a game

To choose your own adventure

 

We got off the long elegant metal snake

To the ferry

Smoothly gliding across the water

 

We got out into

The knife sharp air

The figure of Lady Liberty

Just visible through

The bustling crowd

 

We visited the miniscule memories of

Bartholdy

Eiffel

Emma Lazarus

 

We sit and eat

Get attacked by pure white birds

Gray spots tease on their feathers

Like shells on sand

 

We went in the gift shop

Dropped off what is banned in

The mother of exiles

And we went on

Into

The Statue of Liberty

 

We went in

There before us

Was a model of the torch

 

We imitated it’s every detail

On a piece of paper

We left

 

To go to the pedestal

We climbed

Stairs and stairs and stairs and… you know what’s coming

My legs were about to part company with me

 

I was as glad as a sailor reaching shore

We made it!

 

Information about the Statue of Liberty

Flying at me like arrows

 

Bedloe’s Island was chosen because it makes her look big

The torch up there is a model made of  24 karat gold

 

Too fast to write down

I sketch instead

The unique and beautiful stair pattern

 

We go down down down

Get lost and find where we are

 

Go to the museum

Get lost in a question

Bo helps us with a riddle

 

And we’re on the water once again

 

April 10, 2018

---

Beacon                             1886

By Alejandro Ulrich,

 

Boats surround me, for the water is my guard,

Lines of white, streaks of light,

for the city is my crystal shard.

 

The golden hand into reach of the sun, the diamond crown shines like a starry night.

For freedom is now in sight.

 

Her still eyes gaze upon us with a gleam of hope.

She lassos the world with her mighty rope.

 

The soft ring of the sky echoes in my ear, the cloud calls.

 

The warmth covers me like heavy wool shawls.

---

 

Lady Liberty, Free For Us To Explore

by Sonia

 

The sculptures in the front

Caught my eye;

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi,

Gustave Eiffel,

Édouard René de Laboulaye,

Richard Morris Hunt,

Emma Lazarus.

We go to the top of the pedestal.

I feel completely comfortable and calm.

But then I look up…

My whole world spins.

My stomach drops

But I keep going.

 

Looking out at the harbor calms me.

The smell of the sea is the smell that the

Statue of Liberty

Is true too.

It is the smell that brought

Lady Liberty

To welcome everyone

Coming from everywhere.

I hear the call of the seagulls

A lot flying in search of their

lunch.

 

The honor to come

From anywhere.

It’s been taken.

Only the ones like Norwegians

The ones Trump likes

Are aloud to explore

Our free country.

 

The others,

They try and try

But he just won’t except.

Only the 45,000 that he adores

Can come.

 

3.5 million visit

Lady Liberty a year.

2.7 million visit

Ellis Island a year.

Only 45,000 new ones

Get to experience the

Glory, the freedom, and the happiness

Each year.

Only the ones he

Knows and wants can come.

---

Liberty

By Giselle Molaei

 

She is big.

She is powerful.

Her arms stretch like a seagull’s wings.

The sun shines like a diamond against her jade skin.

The pedestal casts a shadow of fame.

I can hear the rough sound of the engine bubbling in the calm sea.

I can feel the stone cold wind from the tips of my hair to my toenails.

I can see water filling people’s eyes.

Like a rainy day when the clouds are crying.

Her torch is a flame that shines across the seven seas.

Her lips shine in the sun like silk.

She is going somewhere nobody knows.

She stares across the world no looking back.

Nothing can stop her.

She is the mother of all people.

All immigrants want to come to America because of her.

When I look at her I see freedom.

The Totally New Colossus

 By Libi

Towering over

The place I call home

The big green lady

With the robes of a Greek giant goddess

She moves towards the sun  

And freedom

Welcoming the people and seagulls (caw!)

Of different worlds

Welcoming “your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Taking them under

Your copper-green wing

Your 62,000 pound copper-green wing

Walking from

Your 87 foot pedestal

Centered on Bedloe’s Island

You never felt less at home

The seven rays on your crown

Do they shine anymore? No.

Now they call for money, fame, power, and dullness

She is yelling for change

Her voice is not heard.

---

Liberty Rising Out of the Ocean

By Sarah

 

As we walk along the gangplank the wind whipped through the trees

The water gently sloshing to accompany the breeze

She really is like all the stories say

I can’t believe he dreamed this: Mr. Laboulaye

Lady Liberty is truly very grand

As well as in the poem, her mild eyes command

We walk onto Liberty’s base

And learn the history of every line on her face

The overlay of her dress makes shadows smirk, dance, and tease

Again, here comes the flimsy, nimble, breeze

Emma Lazarus helped create the image we see now

Mother of Exiles, immigrant queen now they don’t have to bow

To anyone

You will be safe

In America

 

Soft, sweet, safe, surrender

To the obliviation of pain

Warm, welcomed, wrapped in a blanket of love from her

Coming through Ellis Island

Hope for a new life

When your eyes catch hers

Liberty seems to rise out of the ocean

To meet you

Is this the land that comes through from your dreams?

The land of love, peace, and tranquility?

Will you be safe

In America?

 

Liberty the Majestic Queen

By Palma

 

The wind blows on the old bedloe’s island now called liberty island

It is cold outside and the sky is blue

and The talk, talk, talk, of amazed people is there

To lovely liberty island we shall go

to the copper mighty women.

They seeked freedom.

So come to America      

as she greets you

you have arrived

As she stands on her pedestal of 87 feet tall we think it is a throne…

She has a beautiful dress of green that many have seen

She wears a crown that used to be brown

Evan though you can only see her shoe you know she is saying hello to you.

She has the torch that lights the way to freedom.

The beautiful colossus who is know to be brown has changed to green just like her emerald self –

will she change more?

She is like a precious jewel, one that all want to see, one where not one can look away.

She is like a good dream, one that make all want to stay in bed and continue dreaming, one that we all want to be true… Liberty is true…. True.

Liberty!

 

 

The Woman of Freedom

By Celia

 

It was cold and windy

The sun was locked up by the clouds,

Birds were soaring above,

“caw caw…” they sing,

Where am I?

I think to myself

Then I look up,

And see the Woman of Freedom

A woman of hope

And a woman of

welcoming

 

 

What the World Meant to Me and Her

By Macy

 

She holds the torch in her hand with

the grip that brought people together.

To show that a woman can do things bigger than a man could do.

More than a tennis match or protesting,

she let freedom rise in America.

She whispered to the waves and welcomed the ones going through Ellis Island.

She made great hope for America

that soon it will be more fair than ever before.

 

Lady Liberty

By Saffron Zeff

 

From feet

to train

to boat

to high up in the sky

an adventure

a cold windy adventure

with people speaking in different languages

Shooooo

as the sound of planes flying by

I feel relaxed

  I feel as if I’m flying,

I lean over the edge

and my heart drops

inside I hear a little voice screaming

“I know it’s high, but you’re alright.”

I slowly walked away.