As a boy I picked tobacco leaf
With hands so stained and sore
The leaves were endless, one by one
My fingers cut and tore
Loading wood in the shed
With my Dad by my side
Stacking the logs very neat
A site we viewed with pride
I worked in kitchens, pots and pans,
Bandana soaked up my sweat
Waited tables here and there
Tables I’d bus and set
On tuna boats, the seas did roar
And sloshing waves would break
A screaming captain I still hear
But I would not forsake.
On oyster boats, the wind did freeze
The ice would crack and sting
I pushed through sloppy seas
And joined the gulls that sing.
I walked the tracks, the rails so long
In rain, in heat, at night
The weight of work would make me strong
Though sleep was out of sight.
In yards so hot, I dug and hauled
Landscaping in the sun
Days were long and thirsty
Always more work to be done
Through frostbite’s bite and aching bone
I pushed through all the pain
Hernias pulled, but I had grown
Tougher through the strain.
In construction I lifted bricks and stone
Building foundations for a house
Not much of a carpenter
But laziness I would denounce
With shovel in hand, I cleared the way
Through snow that fell so deep
The cold bit sharp, but I refused to sway
As the homeowner’s laid in sleep
I carried bundles, heavy and high
Stripped the roofs with aching back
Shingles tossed beneath the sky
Thousands of pounds in the stack
With knees banged up
And muscles that would burn
None of that mattered
I still had to work and earn
But now I stand in a comfy room
Classroom warm, no winter gloom
No winds that bite, no rain that falls
I teach within a prison’s walls
Each job has shaped me in its way,
And taught me how to strive,
Now in peace, I teach and say
“I’m thankful I’m alive.”