They say he stowed away on a boat,
Alone at fourteen
Running from the famine
                         or toward an opportunity,
We can't be sure.
What we do know is that
He didn't have to get in line,
     or wait ten years,
          or prove his worth.
He just showed up and,
Though despised by his new countrymen,
They took him in,
And eventually he became one of them.
So much that his ancestors
Can now condemn
                                                                       others
Who do exactly what he did.

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