A Tribute to Migrant Workers in a Place Called Madre TierraFrancisco “Pancho” BustosA couple dollars a pound and not a couple dollars a piece don’t forget Ay karnal can’t you see how it can be much easier to pay the tax than to break the backs How easier it is to pick them shiny apples from air conditioned racks than to cough the blood while carrying those heavy, poisoned sacks To Work and to Eat and to Survive To Work and to Eat and to Survive To Work and to Eat and to Survive Corazones that won’t stop until the little ones are fed and they can hit the books and they can learn and grow That’s the dream, can’t you see? Porque somos familia y porque tenemos el derecho to question the word ‘i-legal’ free, también to question and let go of that fear of riding the bus the trolley and the car A couple dollars a pound and not a couple dollars a piece don’t forget No right to vote Yes a right to break the backs No right to walk without fear Yes a right to sweat and serve and hide But we come from the sun el maíz y las yerbas And we are free and incapable of seeing our madres santas as ‘resident aliens’ And we are free to be proud of our mothers for once showing us how to serve 99 cent kool aid y quesadillas to our running brothers and sisters flying through our parking lots of old rented apartments in a place called Sydro Lifting themselves up scratched up and all from the concrete they met when turning a corner Cuz the runnin was too fast and the runnin was too scary and the runnin was much too much of a nightmare And so I learned, frozen, on that concrete stage before my curious little eyes, That a couple dollars a pound over a couple dollars a piece Isn’t just my super-sized special treat, but yours también Don’t forget. |