Liberty Mutual Insurance has commissioned a poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith (2017-2019) as a gift to the new Statue of Liberty museum.
The poem, Harbor, is a ghazal-form poem of hope that seeks a sense of communion and community across all forms of difference.
Harbor was accepted by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation as a gift from Liberty Mutual Insurance.
“Harbor is a beautiful embodiment of hope and the possibilities of what we as a people and a nation can and should be,” said Dawn Frazier-Bohnert, chief diversity officer at Liberty Mutual Insurance. “For nearly a century, Lady Liberty has served as an enduring symbol of our own mission to help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. We're proud to present this gift and our support to help preserve her legacy of hope, enlightenment, and freedom for future generations.”
“It was my honor to create a poem in celebration of the hope and solace that Lady Liberty represents to those seeking this nation's shores,” said Ms. Smith. “'Harbor' imagines a version of healing and progress that arises not despite our many different histories, but precisely because of them.”
HARBOR
Stranger, I find myself lost. Let us watch this new age gather
Overhead. Let's see what rains onto unaccustomed skin.
Once, we were pelt, fur, hide. Only the seasons mattered. Now,
We shiver, crying out. Not from winter, but the fear in skin.
I see the tall masts of history in horizon fog. They dip
And rise. The tides they ride swell under human skin.
Be my guest. Drink tea, taste fruit and bread. The meat rests,
Cooling on the slab, but see how wine has flushed our skin?
This land you've sought is peopled with enemies and kin.
You'll learn to read the whole long story written on skin.
We passengers wait. Our restless waiting forms an island.
One woman stands, sings. Her music enters through my skin.
Stranger, you're the words to a hymn I've only ever hummed.
Come. Let's erase the distance between skin and skin.
—Tracy K. Smith
As part of the Harvard University Class of 1994 25th Reunion, Ms. Smith invited her classmate, composer Randall Eng, to set “Harbor” to music for soprano and orchestra. The new composition will be performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra during a private performance at Symphony Hall in Boston.
Admission to the Statue of Liberty Museum is included as part of a visitor's ticket to Liberty Island. The 26,000 square foot museum includes three galleries, one of which is the Inspiration Gallery devoted to liberty today, made possible by a gift from Liberty Mutual. Here, visitors will find the Statue's original torch. Interpretive panels hear the torch recount the icon's original design and how it changed over time to reflect the Statue's changing role. The glass-framed gallery affords visitors views of the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor, and visitors see a dynamic presentation of historic images overlaid on the current view.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].