Child Labor

Authors note: This is a poem originally created for social studies on child labor, i am using it for both that and my goals.

We work and work without a break

To you it may just seem fake                          

Working every single hour

Leave us with no power

The minimum wage              

Commonly causes rage

Although it is a job

It makes us want to sob

Day to day I am so sore

But I still remain too poor

Day to day

I work for little pay

Night to night

I sleep with nobody in sight

Hunger drives me,

Nearly to insanity

While at work

It is prohibited of me to smirk

I know nothing other than this

Which leaves me with nothing left to miss

I live in the gutter

The rodents create quite a mutter

With little to eat

And nothing on my feet

All day I sew

But there is always more to go

All day I work on shoes

I have nothing left to lose

It is often that I am ill

But can’t afford a pill

While at the factory

I feel like a casualty

 For I know I will never be able to retire

Although is what I do desire

Every morning I go to work

Then I go home were rodents lurk

At night I am cold

While trying to sleep in mold

During the day I am so hot

I feel as though I will rot

I work all day on these balls,

Without a break or even a chance to use the stalls

My life is hardly worth a penny

Not unlike many

Day to day

Those I am around feel the same way

We work nonstop without a break

I wish it was my life that they’d take

I live in a house with five others

But none of them are my sisters or brothers

The way we live just seems fake

To those who wear what we make

We live by very strict rules

Those who disobey end up in blood pools

I sleep on a cement floor

And all that can prevent that is a war

I am treated like dirt

Worked, pushed, and hurt

It is often I go a while

Without sprouting a single smile

If we decide to fight back

We will receive a hard whack

In what I make I do take pride

That I am forced to hide

The games I wish to play

Will have to wait for another day

Ive heard that it isn’t like this other places

I wonder about those faces

Do they wear what we make?

Is their life a piece of cake?

I wonder who wears it

I wonder who it would fit

I wonder if they have it worse

Or if they are pulling money out of their purse

What kind of money do they earn?

And how much of it they burn

Do they know what we go through too

Is it ever hard for them too?

Are there other people like me?

If so I’d not like to see

My mind is overrun with this

I wish I could say goodbye to it with a kiss

It is all I see and all I know

It is all there is to show

I wonder what they live in

Do they put our products in a bin?

Is it crammed like my home?

Or is there plenty of room to roam

Do they live and sleep on concrete,

Do they have nothing to eat?

Or do they have more than they need

Driven by greed

I wonder what the children are given,

Do they walk to work or are the driven?

Are they allowed to have fun,

Instead of work nonstop in the hot sun.

Or maybe they all play a game,

While we sit here in shame

How do they sleep?

Alone or perhaps in a heap

Are they given a mat,

Or something much nicer than that.

Where do they eat?

Do they get to sit upon a seat?

We eat on the cold hard floor

With sewer waste and much more

We eat vegetables and rice

Luckily we can pay the price

I wonder if they receive a variety of food

Does what we receive seem crude?

Do they like the life they live,

Do they know how much we give?

I wonder if they go on trips

And have the privilege of words from their lips

I wonder if they get together

And are able to share gifts like a sweater

I’ve heard they have enough cash

To waste on getting rid of something as little as a rash

They have great power

All of them from nice to sour

A life like that would be nice

There is nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice

To step foot in their shoes

There is nothing that I would lose

I would feel so great

If that in fact was my fate

I would love my life

And would prevent it from being ended by anything even a knife

But it is always that I dread

That it is all just in my head

I hope others start to learn

And maybe even decide to take their turn

I wonder what they’d do if they could see

What is happening with me

Would they even dare to care?

Or would they ignore it

While we throw a fit

Would they give

Or look at it as a sieve

Would they even care

Or would they think of it as just some kind of nightmare

We do not deserve this

We deserve to be addressed as sir and miss

We do not chose to live this way

For we do not have any say

I never get to make my own decisions

And my head is always filled with many visions

Nobody deserves a life like mine

I’m sure that many would rather catch the swine

Child labor is not my choice

We have absolutely no voice

If we even seek power

It is us they will devour

We cannot do anything about it

Aside from just sit

A life here can’t compare to a life there

Here some don’t even care

They rather be dead

Then listen to many things that their boss has said

I’ve heard our home is compared to a dump

Away from here I want to jump

But I cannot do that

So I’ll just have to stay here with each mouse and rat

I’ve heard that goodness always will come

But that seems to not be the case for some

Sadly this is my story

And as you can see it doesn’t have a bit of glory

I have lived in constant misery

This is what child labor has done to me.