Work, a poem

WORK

 

Long ago, work was invented

to keep us all at home,

when we’d much rather be hunting

and through the wild hills roam

in search of mammoth and aurochs—

not that we’d scorn a rabbit—

as did our fathers’ fathers;

oh, work is a nasty habit!

For now we are civilized,

some of us plow and reap;

others gather things up

and take them somewhere to keep.

Forgetting the past, we toil

through each and every day—

long ago work was invented

and at home we stay.

 

Stephen Brooke ©2023

 

In the first draft of this bit of light verse I blamed work's invention on women...but thought better of it!