Working

She works harder than ten men combine

Working night and day till her knees break and hands swell

Living in a cardboard box with only the clothes on her back

Can’t even find one meal much less three to eat a day

Working for freedom, working for wealth, working for a better life

But held in cages by the government and land she call home

Who is she?

She is the Harvard student with four degrees and no job

Cause she’s over qualified and knee-high in student debt with banks hunting down every dime she make

She is the Cuban immigrant that sailed in a life boat for three weeks to get to the states

Only to marry a man that uses her face as a punching bag

She is my mother, living in Jamaica with five kids at thirteen because her mother wants to live life

These women are the reason I why

I will work harder than ten men combine to achieve my dreams

I will work night and day till my knees break and hands swell

Because I refuse to be limited

I refuse to not take for granted the opportunities I have in America,

As oppose to those my mother had as a Jamaican living in a 3^rd world country

I am a first generation American born citizen and I will succeed in life.

Never will society define or alter my future

Because I ’ma keep working and I ’ma keep fighting

My dreams will be a reality