This poem came through me during the lead-up to my leaving to study in Switzerland. One day (or several days) I reflected on the up and down nature Fortune played in my life. At the time that I wrote the poem, I had very little money and the austere lifestyle I lead was far different than the one I previously led as an executive assistant working in corporate headquarters for Fortune 500 companies. Yet, the lifestyle I lead as an executive assistant was far different than the one in which I grew up. My early (memorable) life was spent in my grandfather’s house. There, I had to be careful to not run in the house (hard assignment for a child with a LOT of energy to burn) because my great-grandmother’s china collection was housed in the china hutch and there would be hell to pay in several lifetimes if I made anything break. After we moved from my grandfather’s house, we moved into a housing project. That too, was in many regards far different from living in my grandfather’s house.
While sitting at my favorite coffee shop and thinking about the various changes of fortune that I had gone through up until that point, I realized that each period contributed to who I was as an overall person. The Pauper (not having money) taught me how to survive without much. The Queen (having plenty of disposable income) taught me how to thrive. After having experienced both and finding myself not quite pauper and not quite queen, I was able to understand and accept that funny place I found myself – in between.
THE PAUPER AND THE QUEEN
I once was a pauper, I once was a queen
But now I find myself in a place in between
I’ve known how it feels to hoard and how it feels to waste
Both coexist like bitter and sweet on the tongue – just a taste
Sometimes I use the lessons of one, sometimes I use the lessons of the other
Just as a child differentiates when to call its father and when to call its mother
The queen provides lessons on how to thrive
While the pauper provides lessons on how to survive
At the core of my being exist the pauper and the queen
Offering a rich wisdom to this place in between