Breathing Dreams

Thu, 01/11/2018 - 23:43 -- 1stuff

What’s it like to walk in others’ shoes

To live their life and see all their views

What comes to mind when you think of field workers

 

We see Hispanic people and hardworking earners

No team it seems they making their own steam

Teeth gleams soaring for their living dreams

 

 

 

Fresh outta high school less than four days ago

Drove away from cool pools and chased the dough

Chased the cherries and all the riches

Nah I’m just playing, might as well be digging ditches

A thousand miles from the Golden to Washington state

Just young childs to all the professional mates

Professional with their hands, might as well be in a rock band

But no money in that, a language bridge is what they lack

My friend’s dad asked me, why’d you leave for this work

You could’ve found something easy, just chillin as a clerk

Not gonna lie, it was kind of hard to understand his accent

I said I wanted to experience field work and not just be content

With a job from nine to five just five days a week

I wanted some hand experience, not standing around growing weak

Excited for some money and stuffing cherries in my tummy

But I was in for a ride, went from working at Weenie Hut to a whip at my hide

 

You boy, you don’t look Hispanic to me

No sir, I’m as Chinese as can be

The struggle of us both still the same

Don’t wanna live this life in vain

Struggling and suffering

So the family don’t live in pain

 

Work second day there, family gone I felt a little bare

And scared, but I was too excited and feeling prepared

Up 3:30 and straight to the trees

The cool morning air had no hint of a breeze

No more hourly, there ain’t no such thing as salary

Five bucks a box, your will and speed determines your stocks

Bye nine to five, hello four to one, your not so known sister

They’ll go 24 hours if it wasn’t for the sun, giving fruit bruises and blisters

First day tired and sour, nine boxes are all I got through

Five dollars an hour, the pay straight blew

New day same routine, that day more boxes and I flirted

To succeed out here, your mind needs to be diverted

Adapt your mind quickly away from the difficulty

Your hands and the trees need to be very intimately

Close or you won’t find success

People don’t play games, no one knows the meaning of recess

 

You my man, you fit right in to me

Yes sir, I’m as mixed as one can be

From the melting pot of this nation

Manning and gunning every station

Hustling and bustling

The American Dream is our liberation

 

Working so hard wearing out every inch of the hand

Don’t fall off the ladder not everybody lucky to land

On their feet, want water but ain’t no time to stop

Working for the check to put their kids on top

Stuffing lunch down as fast as possible

Then back up the ladder, resting isn’t optional

That’s the lifestyle of the uneducated man

The lifestyle of the immigrant woman

You worry of your phone battery dying

They got children around crying

Working hard so the kids can have a better income

Instead of like them, scraping for some crumbs

 

My friend, I tell you this so that you understand

Work hard, make use of your sweat glands

Good things don’t come easily

You wanna live oh so breezily

It doesn’t matter why you choose to be here

Some have trouble with language barriers

Do it so their kids can be superior

Some are used to it, don’t wanna do other work out of fear

The Money Trees are now their wife

I did it to see another color in the spectrum of life

I found that Jermaine’s words held true once more

Can’t always live with a roof over the floor

You gotta struggle while you live

For life’s beauty to give

What that may be is for you to decide

I just know many look for love to reside

Common life theme not to get creamed

Through our bloodstream, we’re all breathing dreams

 

This poem is about: 
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