Poetry Thursday Extra: A Modern Ecstacy

Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself! It cannot
Be call'd our mother, but our grave. Where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air,
Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy.

William Shakespeare
Macbeth

Lines uttered by the Thane of Ross, which means I said them on stage in our college production in 1966.  Posted in honor of the Republican National Convention.