WEBVTT

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This poem is in the voice
of Henry, a Jamaican,

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and I think it explains
kind of the reason why

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Caribbean Islanders were
willing to take these jobs.

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"Troubled by wishes,
I get up and step

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outside where I listen to
rain, rain, gruesome rain.

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The night sky is thick and slick
as a waterfall, the drumming

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of thunder so furious that it
makes sleepless monkeys howl.

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Long after the noisy,
noisy downpour is over,

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I can still hear
raindrops slipping down

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from one layer of leaves to
another until finally they

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settle beside my feet in swampy
mud, where singing frogs hop

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and squirming leeches
cling to my ankles.

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If only I could find some
way to take a steamship home

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and start my life over.

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I've never had a
chance to go to school.

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If I send enough silver
home, will my little brothers

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and sisters be able to study?

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Maybe one of them will even grow
up to be a teacher or a nurse.

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That would make all my serpent
cut suffering worthwhile."

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The serpent cut was
the most difficult part

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of the canal project.

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It was called the Culebra Cut,
and there were landslides.

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And it was very dangerous.

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