Читать книгу Breathing Space - Harold J. Recinos - Страница 9

once again you are home

from the factory slipping out

of work clothes covered with

scraps of cloth you spent the day

cutting. you undo the fake pearl

necklace laying it on the altar next

to the Cross then take off shoes to let

swollen feet begin their bare tour of

the apartment without pain. you walk

to the bedroom window sliding it open

to have a look at the potted flowers on

the fire escape that eagerly call out your

name like prayer trying to reach the ears

of the everlasting. in the kitchen by the sink

full of last night’s dishes you recall being a

child of Spanish earth and digging soil with your

hands to help corn and beans squeeze through

land to grow. now, your rough hands with broken

nails are clamped to a factory machine you work

while sitting on a pitiable stool to make the petty

wages keeping you in a cramped fifth-floor room

with scanty daily bread. when the clock strikes

nine you go sit in your living room with an old

Bible to pray with used hope for an end to this

unforgiving spell.