Buried Alive

I put on the cap and the uniform

To please the people that give me money.

I follow their rules with a synthetic smile

To appease the ones I work for.

I complete the caustic piles of work

To entertain my teachers.

I run myself to the ground day after day

To get the grades my parents approve of.

I wear a skirt or dress to church

To submit to my religion’s rules.

I silence any thought of success as a woman

To keep my society from crumbling.

But underneath the uniform and plastic positivity

They labeled me with,

I’m a person worth much more than minimum wage.

Underneath the dirt of pointless work

They buried me in,

I've found diamonds of knowledge and talents.

Underneath the obedience to an unjust world

They want to live in,

I’m screaming.