A Precious Legacy

My 4 grandparents
came in steerage
The wretched refuse of
countries seen as toxic 
in the halls
of Congress
They sold herring on the 
streets of Brownsville
pressed garments, tended
bar, fought scabs, cooked and
sewed in disease filled tenements and 
brought up children who, if they
survived,
went to college and became
teachers, musicians, social 
workers and owners of
small businesses
Their memory drives me
to love and cherish
immigrants of today 
making the same
journe