I Will Not Work Today
~ by Tom Howard
I will not work again today,
Because I can’t expect or pretend
That all this ceaseless working
Will hold the world in place
Or reward me with untold riches
Or kind, understanding friends.
In fact, it has not persuaded
the world to be a better place.
Nor has working been a cure
To the problem of continually losing
The people, places and things
That I have come to love so dearly.
In fact, it has been my constant way
Of trying to assuage my personal grief
at having so little control over my personal
Losses and failures since I was very young.
Somehow, I don’t think I’ve learned all that
very much on that particular subject.
But today, I will sit close by the stove fire
As it consumes the valiant life of some trees
And celebrate the forests passed and present
Which have lived sacred lives in the forest
Only to be taken for my temporary comfort
And solace in this temporal passage.
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