Immigrant Hands

The boats are unsteady, they rattle their sails
The bows scrape the seabed like cracked fingernails
Foreign flags like gulls in the sky
The Manhattan morning is coming to life

Together we stand
On an island of foreign land
Built by Immigrant Hands

Some came by will, others by force
Shackled and shamed under immigrant laws
Some leave by will, others are forced
But Immigrants laid down the streets of New York

Together we stand
On an island of foreign land
Built by Immigrant Hands

The trains are unsteady, they rattle their rails
The sun touches rooftops like fingers on brail
Taxicabs fly like bees in a hive,
The Manhattan morning is coming to life.

Together we stand
On an island of foreign land
Built by Immigrant Hands