Sayings
I said to the farmer all covered in dirt:
"Why is it so that you always must work
for the profit of men that care not for your soul
or your hopes or your dreams, of both which they stole,
as they reached in your pocket while shaking your hand
and nodding their head, as if to command
the respect that never should come at a price
of half of the difference of virtue and vice?
The man clutched his beard and thought for a while,
his worn, wrinkled face belaying a smile,
and eyes deep blue filled with knowledge and age,
and I looked for a moment upon this old sage.
He said to me then what I say to you now,
that the world drifts about with a weight and a scowl,
then said "I'll keep on 'a doin' what I've always done,
because what I've been doin' ain't hurt no one."
And I thought to myself: "That's horribly dumb."
But as I stood there, my mind started to hum
with all of the things this man could have said,
and down from my brain this thought started to spread.
It tickled my spine and my hands and my feet,
and through to my heart in time with its beat,
and it made there a home and began to pay rent,
and I understood life was just being content.