Rich Woman, Poor Woman
1. I am a woman. I am a woman.
2. I am a woman born of a woman, whose man owned a factory. I am a woman born of a woman, whose man labored in a factory.
3. I am a woman whose man wore silk suits, who constantly watched his weight. I am a woman whose man wore tattered clothing, whose heart was constantly strangled by hunger.
4. I am a woman who watched two babies grow into beautiful children. I am a woman who watched two babies die because there was no milk.
5. I am a woman who watched two twins grow into popular college students with summers abroad. I am a woman who watched three children grow, but with bellies stretched from no food.
6. But then there was a man. But then there was a man.
7. And he talked about the peasants getting richer by my family getting poorer. And he told me of the days that would be better, and he made the days better.
8. We had to eat rice. We had rice.
9. We had to eat beans. We had beans.
10. My children were no longer given summer visas to Europe. My children no longer cried themselves to sleep.
11. And I felt like a peasant. And I felt like a woman.
12. A peasant with dull, hard, unexciting life. Like a woman with a life that sometimes allowed a song.
13. And I saw a man. And I saw a man.
14. And together we begin to plot with the hope of the return to freedom….I saw his heart begin to beat with the hope of freedom at last…
15. Someday, the return to freedom. Someday, freedom.
16. And then. But then.
17. One day. One day.
18. There were planes overhead and guns firing close by. There were planes overhead and guns firing in the distance.
19. I gathered my children and went home. I gathered my children and ran.
20. And the guns moved farther and farther away. But the guns moved closer and closer.
21. And then, they announced that freedom had been restored. And then, they came, young boys really.
22....