Market Woman

Market woman (rise before the sun)
basket on her head.
Market woman (work never done)
whole town gotta get fed.

Four in the morning and the rooster still sleep,
she counting her coins in a bandana heap.
Bus to the market with the yam and the lime,
been making that journey since before my time.
Scotch bonnet, callaloo, thyme in a row,
she know every customer, watch them grow.
Sun beat down on the galvanized stall,
but she got a joke and a smile for all.

Nobody write her name in the paper,
nobody hang her picture in a hall.
But three children reach university
on the coins from that market stall.

Market woman, queen of the town, (oh, oh)
basket of blessings, never set it down. (oh, oh)
Every coin she count, a seed she sow,
market woman make the whole town grow.

Queen of the town. (never set it down)
Market woman. (oh, oh)
Every little coin a seed she sow.

Doctor in the city with her mother's eyes,
lawyer in the capital, teacher likewise,
all of them started at the bottom of a stall
where a woman with a basket carried it all.
Rain or the drought, she never miss a day,
haggle with a smile but she make you pay.
Forty years of mornings on the market ground:
the university of the whole town.

But three children reach university
on the coins from that market stall.

Market woman, queen of the town, (oh, oh)
basket of blessings, never set it down. (oh, oh)
Every coin she count, a seed she sow,
market woman make the whole town grow.

Graduation day she lock the stall by noon,
sat in the front row in her church hat blue.
When they call her daughter's name out loud,
the market woman stood up proud,
the basket finally off her head.

Market woman, queen of the town, (oh, oh)
Forty years of mornings, never once down, (rise up)
crown her, crown her, whole town.

Market woman, queen of the town, (oh, oh)
basket of blessings, never set it down. (oh, oh)
Doctor, lawyer, teacher in a row,
market woman made the whole town grow.

Market woman (rise before the sun)
basket on her head.
Whole town got fed.