She learned the plumbing trade when women did not learn the plumbing trade,
She took the apprenticeship and she was not afraid,
She learned the pipe and the fitting and the pressure and the flow,
She learned the code and passed the test and let the record show.
The trade she learned when the trade did not want her in,
The trade she learned is the trade she carries in her skin,
The license on the wall with her signature and state seal,
The trade she learned is as permanent as steel.
They told her it was not a fit and she should find another door,
She said I passed the written and the practical, what more,
Do you require from a tradesperson who knows the work,
They had no answer and she went to work and did not shirk.
Twenty years and forty apprentices she trained herself,
She put the first woman in the trade in every borough and every shelf,
Of the industry that told her once it was not for her kind,
The trade she learned became the trade she helped redefine.