Seamstress Poem

[eaemilia]

I had to write this poem for my English class, and I found when I was looking through some old stuff of mine. It's one of my favorite poems (I usually don't show them, so this means something). It's based off of The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles which is an awesome book <3.



I am a seamstress and hopeful
I wonder if I will ever escape Taquaritinga
I hear the whistle of a train (Goodbye, Taquaritinga)
I see the bustling streets of Recife (That is where I belong)
I want to prove that I am better than this life (I refuse to settle for some farm boy)
I am a seamstress and hopeful

I pretend to run away with Professor Célio (How can he not love me?)
I feel alive as I dream of my future (I will be great)
I touch Degas (He is my freedom and nothing more)
I worry that I will never be good to truly be part of high society
I cry over Luzia’s unknown fate (Is she still alive? Will she understand my message?)
I am a seamstress and hopeful

I understand that they will never truly accept me (No matter how much they smile, their eyes never lie)
I say the names of the trains carrying my charity clothes- she’ll never attack them, and it’ll be her death (I’m sorry Luzia)
I dream of our childhood (I wish we could go back)
I try to help my fellow Brazilians, women to receive suffrage, caatinga residents life
I hope to one day be free of the cage I locked myself in (Now I know why you freed those birds, Luzia)
I am a seamstress and hopeful (I will be free- for you, my sister)