It was last September when the daily scoop of white rice sloshed onto the plate,

dinner was supplied by the slaved work of the father in a field 

and a hint of money from the youngest begging. 

Just like their neighbors they were scarce on food

The mother had grown up in a local boarding school on the west side,

supported by her wealthy father until she met her husband.

She had always loved the idea of a forbidden love; but this one cost her everything.

Beaming with joy she married her love at 14; she was still a child.

Tears of happiness were shed when she became pregnant three months later,

Tears of happiness turned to tears of sadness and despair for the sixth child.

With no access to birth control she cries herself to sleep each night

Longing for a change in life, she prays to her god,

Lord provide my family with a better life, we will work for it, I will work for it.

She has dreamed of moving since she bore her fifth child,

somewhere north to the verdant rolling hills.

Desperately waiting to have enough money saved in their jar.

Before she had a life full of promise and money,

food was not absent and beds weren’t shared.

Gifted a locket of her family for her tenth birthday,

She had to sell it two years ago to pay the hospital bill for her youngest.

Now they live in the rolling hills of the north,

A quaint town on the west side of the island

She prayed every day and one day the gods smiled on the forbidden land

Now appreciative of money, an education and her children;

She made it through the rubble and discovered a sapphire,

She can now afford to eat more than one scoop of rice each night.