#  With the Tired and Hungry and Scared …Then and Now

     Details    Abby Zimet   ![logo](https://www.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         June 27 2019       [WORLD WATCH](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch)   - [  Previous Article **What the Hell Is Nancy Pelosi Doing? House Democrats have Lost Their Moral Compass** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17968:what-the-hell-is-nancy-pelosi-doing-house-democrats-have-lost-their-moral-compass&catid=332)
- [  Next Article **Media Will Pick Dem’s Next Presidential Candidate** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17935:media-will-pick-dem-s-next-presidential-candidate&catid=332)

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> **CITYWATCH TODAY**--After Oscar Alberto Martínez and his 23-month-old daughter Angie Valeria and the rest - it turns out they were just two of [dozens ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2019/06/26/%20%20https:/www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/26/us-mexico-border-migrants-crossing-rio-grande)who've died in the Rio Grande this year thanks to state-sponsored barbarism that now even asylum officials [oppose](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2019/06/26/%20%20https:/www.washingtonpost.com/) - we took a truth and beauty break with Willie Nelson.

 At a still-smooth-as-silk 86 years old, the great troubadour just released a poignant, mournful [video ](https://www.jambase.com/article/willie-nelson-immigrant-eyes-video)with his recording of Guy Clark's "Immigrant Eyes," part of Willie's new [album ](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/willie-nelsons-ride-me-back-home-is-another-sturdy-set-of-late-life-wisdom-847269/%20%20)"Ride Me Back Home." Moving from Ellis Island to today's horrors, Willie [honors ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYBaSvR2R0o)those pilgrims "bound by the dream that they shared," then and now, "on fire with the hope of it all."

**Immigrant Eyes

"When I looked in my grandfather's immigrant eyes

I saw started with nothing and working hard all of his life"

Oh, Ellis Island was swarming
 Like a scene from a costume ball
 Decked out in the colors of Europe
 And on fire with the hope of it all
 There my father's own father stood huddled

With the tired and hungry and scared
 Turn of the century pilgrims
 Bound by the dream that they shared

They were standing in line just like cattle
 Poked and sorted and shoved
 Some were one desk away from sweet freedom
 Some were torn from someone they love
 Through this sprawling Tower of Babel
 Came a young man, confused and alone
 Determined and bound for America

And carrying all that he owned

Sometimes when I looked in my grandfather's immigrant eyes
 I saw that day reflected and I couldn't hold my feelings inside
 I saw started with nothing and working hard all of his life
 "So don't take it for granted, " said grandfather's immigrant eyes

He would rock and stare out the window

But his eyes are still just as clear
 As the day he sailed through the Harbor
 And come ashore on that island of tears
 My grandfather's days were numbered

But I won't let his memory die
 'Cause he gave me the gift of this country
 And the look in his immigrant eyes

Sometimes when I looked in my grandfather's immigrant eyes
 I saw that day reflected and couldn't hold my feelings inside
 I saw started with nothing and working hard all of his life

"So don't take it for granted, " said grandfather's immigrant eyes
 "Don't take it for granted, " said grandfather's immigrant eyes

*(CityWatch guest columnist writes for Common Dreams … where this piece originated.)*

*-cw*

  - [  Previous Article **What the Hell Is Nancy Pelosi Doing? House Democrats have Lost Their Moral Compass** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17968:what-the-hell-is-nancy-pelosi-doing-house-democrats-have-lost-their-moral-compass&catid=332)
- [  Next Article **Media Will Pick Dem’s Next Presidential Candidate** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17935:media-will-pick-dem-s-next-presidential-candidate&catid=332)
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