A Life of Quiet Desperation

A Life of Quiet Desperation By Elton Camp Sadie appears to be at least forty-five But fewer than thirty she’s been alive A normal childhood she never knew A lifelong ordeal she went through With her picker parents she did roam And never experienced any stable home When the tomatoes are ready over there They went, hoping for wages more fair Sadie can just barely read and write Although her mind is quick and bright Helping to harvest she couldn’t shirk So all day long she felt she must work She felt it was her responsibility to try To help her family somehow get by It was at age fourteen Sadie was wed And too soon came children to be fed She sits in a shack, children at her side With nothing else to look to with pride A better life she wishes she might see But knows, in fact, that it will never be