I was surprised to get her call.  I had been thinking about her quite a bit since our last encounter.  The pain of which was still to be heard in my own voice. “Lady Liberty” picked up on this and immediately tried to put me at ease.  She said “look at it this way, now you’ll have another reason to visit France.”  I just couldn’t argue with her on that account. Still she knew she had barely won a concession from me.  So, in my passable French I asked “Que me vaut la joie de votre appel?  That was when she started to share her thoughts with me.

In a now raspy voice she noted that she was preing to give her formal “Adieu” to this precious land which she had long called her adopted country. At first she wondered if she needed to make a “Formal Address” before a joint session of Congress or meet personally with our President (ugh”).  I dissuaded her from meeting with the fool in the Oval Office by explaining that he was more likely to make an embarrassing spectacle of the whole affair, as if it wasn’t already.  “The Lady” was quick to add that she would not feel right in turning her departure into an International Fiasco.  I could hardly believe the amount of dignity she was displaying before me. It was difficult for me to comprehend but she was as calm as Ariel in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” after being set free by Prospero.  I should have known she could carry herself in regal fashion for she had openly received the detritus of the “Tempest-Tossed” with grace for over a century.

Still, being the New Yorker that I am, I gently scolded her by letting her know that if ever there was a reason to make her a “Cause Célèbre” this would have to be it.  Pushing the very symbol of “Freedom” and “Liberty” out to Sea and making her swim for her very life was as despicable an act as General Benedict Arnold’s defection from the Continental Army.  Before I could control myself, I heard myself exclaiming Nina Simone’s refrain “Mississippi Goddamn.”  “Lady Liberty” just gave me a “Big Hug” and simply said “Thank You.”

After she calmed me down we discussed the feasibility of her addressing Congress and quickly agreed that there was just no point in putting on a “Dog and Pony” show that would fall on deaf ears.  A bunch of politically astute hypocrites would just gather around her for the celebrity photo op while paying lip service to her cry for help.  To my surprise, she agreed that the body as a whole barely cares about immigrants. For over a decade or more Congress has allowed itself to be paralyzed by two-bit hustlers all too willing to surrender power to the neo-cons and allow the “White Nativist Foxes” to take over and guard the “Immigration Hen House.”  Talk about leading the lambs to their slaughter!

The question remains, is there any member of the House or Senate who has the “Audacity of Hope” to stand-up against the racist anti-immigrant fear-mongers who will destroy our cherished land and gladly melt “Lady Liberty” for scrap metal. Is it then any wonder that “The Lady” has to go into “self-imposed” exile before it is too late?

Now, it was “Lady Liberty’s” turn to scold me and have me focus on the topic at hand, saying Adieu.  After a few moments we came up with a solution that was under our very eyes. “Lady Liberty” would spend the next month saying good-bye to all the tourists and “We the People” gathered daily at Castle Clinton to purchase tickets to see her on her pedestal on Liberty Island.  She would spend the Fourth of July weekend as a special guest of the Mayor and attended the fireworks celebration for the last time. ““Lady Liberty” then plans to arrive in France in time for the annual Bastille Day celebrations. We decided to meet again soon to start the final preparations. And then she asked if I would join her for Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.