Brave Child Of Immigrants

Brave Child Of Immigrants
© Surazeus
2025 06 23

If I can kick the ball into the net 
before our empire collapses from greed 
then I will leap abyss of honesty 
to test my mettle with assertive faith 
before I tumble from heavenly wall 
and pick fruit in strawberry fields forever. 

When gang of men who wear no uniforms, 
hiding their faces with black bandit masks, 
swarm the strawberry fields of industry 
to arrest the hard-working immigrants 
and deport them all from the Promised Land, 
I film their illegal activity. 

Sweat dripping from my brow in blazing sun, 
I sing the blues with aching heart of hope 
to call the sweet chariot of salvation 
which never swoops from faceless clouds of light, 
so I meet the devil at the crossroads 
and sell my soul so I can play guitar. 

Strumming old battered guitar of my heart, 
I sing the blues on cold Chicago streets 
to howl with wolf voice of the wilderness, 
expressing anguish of the immigrant 
who flees their homeland overrun by gangs 
to seek salvation in the Promised Land. 

Because I work my fingers to the bone, 
constructing car engines in factories, 
I grow new secret pair of angel wings 
I try to hide beneath my leather coat 
till passion to ascend erupts from rage 
with urgency of faith to fight the power. 

Linking arms with comrades on picket lines, 
I strike against dangerous working conditions 
and call for higher wages with respect 
so I can afford to feed my family 
and send my kids to college of desire 
so they can buy new house and car at last. 

Bearing my hungry daughter on my back, 
I trudge rugged trail of the Darien Gap, 
struggling through stark wilderness of pain 
where Orpheus leads mute souls of the dead 
across the waste land to the Promised Land 
where I work as janitor at hotels. 

Assembling fragments of my freedom quest 
in documentary on this bitter life, 
I crack jokes on stage at the smoky bar 
about life as brave child of immigrants 
who pick fruit in the fields of California
while I perform my television show.