Barry Van Allen - American Way

' YOU PEOPLE ' piss me off,
because you get ' pissed - off ',
at the slightest slight,
that was never meant that way.

It is the big deal that you make of it,
when it's time to move along,
- - - take solace in the fact,
that your'e not from the Middle East today.

You are NOT from China,
or from Ireland, or Germany - in 1948,
... like so many yesterday,
you will discriminate tomorrow.

Lighten - up there ' people '
I know the situation's different,
- - - I am more and more convinced,
that you will rise above it all,
- - - just the way that others have.

Someday you will look down upon,
the immigrants from some other place,
when you are melded in the melting pot,
and swear that it is the ' American Way! '

Sadly, it will take some time,
and I am not sure that there is a line,
that you can stand in, that insures you anything,
... still, everybody wants to be here,
so they can have the freedom to complain,
... because so often, where they come from,
they've only heard of such a thing.

Barry Van Allen

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/american-way-2/