LABOR DAY POETRY
________ PRIMARY SOURCES ________
Look well upon the men who dig in mines,
And work machines in mills and factories grim.
Be aware that those who tend the vines
Or till the soil give much for wages slim.
Reaping sowing, weeding, hoeing make
Full the nation’s store of nutriment.
Overland the burly truckers take
Rich provisions and accoutrement
Coast to coast. The teamsters load and haul
Enormous hordes of stuff that we’ve empowered,
Shipped in freighters, stored in silos tall,
Delivered, well-displayed, and then devoured.
Awards are due the goods and who supplies them,
Yet the wise despise the guys who advertise them.
~ FreeThinke - The Sandpiper, Summer, 1996
______ TO THOSE WHO HELP ______
May God bless the practical women and men,
Who rise from the hay every day, and then
Produce what we need
Without rancor or greed,
Make things run,
Get things done,
Keep things clean,
So they're fit to be seen,
And continuously smooth the way
So that we may live comfortably every day.
~ FreeThinke - 10/20/11
________ STILLNESS ________
No sound beyond the dropping of the leaves
Or shushing in the treetops of the stirring
In the air and periodic whirring
Soft of wings and bundling of sheaves ––
Every now and then a bird may call
Looking for or longing for his mate;
Escaping still the hunter’s dinner plate.
Scythes swish steadily as grain grown tall
Submits to delicate compelling force.
Workers silently bent to their task
Over whom hot sunshine spills its rays
Reap swiftly knowing pain could come, of course.
Later, in the afterglow they’ll bask
Dreaming foolishly of better days.
~ FreeThinke - 9/21/13
_______ COME, LABOR ON _______
ReplyDeleteCome, labor on.
Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain
while all around us waves the golden grain?
And to each servant does the Master say,
"Go work today."
Come, labor on.
The enemy is watching night and day,
to sow the tares, to snatch the seed away;
while we in sleep our duty have forgot,
he slumbers not.
Come, labor on.
Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear!
No arm so weak but may do service here:
by feeblest agents may our God fulfill
his righteous will.
Come, labor on.
Claim the high calling angels cannot share:
to young and old the gospel gladness bear.
Redeem the time its hours so swiftly fly
the night draws nigh.
Come, labor on.
No time for rest, till glows the western sky,
till the long shadows o'er our pathway lie
and a glad sound comes with the setting sun:
"Servants, well done."
~ T. Tertius Noble
A splendid musical performance of Ora Labora with extended improvisation by organist Gerre Hancock and the choir and congregation of St Thomas' Church in New York is recommended in honor of Labor Day:
Deletehttps://youtu.be/GsuXVzG3OuI
Don't fight it, and try to conjure up which reasons to avoid it. That is bound to be an habitual reaction for many, but it should be fought. Instead, just let the ocean of sound wash over you. Once you get into it, it's bound to raise goose bumps as it brings you in touch with the Dignity, Nobility and Grandeur of Cooperative Human Effort made with a Cheerful, Willing Heart.
I could never play this –– even in a small Parish Church with only a few aged churchgoers in the pews –– without tears springing to my eyes as a lump developed in my throat.
This stirring TEXT by Jane Northwick given above is also available at Always on Watch, and at Farmer's. Letters.
Having a HAPPY LABOR DAY is not a matter of getting drunk, or eating oneself into a bad case of indigestion. If it isn't based on an element of REVERENCE for GOD and RESPECT for HUMAN DIGNITY, it's just a self-indulgent waste of time.
What a wonderful rendition of Ora Labora!
DeleteI like the symbolism in your images, FT. There's a good message there. I hope others will see it too. Your poetry sounds like products from the distant past. That's great. Modernity stinks out loud. Glad to find someone who looks beyond every day cares and sees a bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteIve know many a women in this shot lifetime of mine, but none so prejudice is the one who brings this hiddious virus upon herself. The sinister germ of a hideous disease known as the disease of liberalism .The liberal policy from the liberal education to welfare to violence in the streets. This is where you can be shot to death in the back any only because you are aun-armed, harmless white bible toting male.. No wonder the citizens are protesting in the streets to show their displeasure and take "what they say is theirs" becuse of a thing call Slavery that happend a centry ago... They take from store owners they don't even know, because he probably helped pull the trigger, because he to is white. . Can you blame them for defying curfews? For burning doen stores, buoldings, and police cars? Thank god, Al Sharpton is in town to bring peace and solace, he did such a great job with Tawany Brawly and the Duke Lacrosse Team. What more could this town ask for aside from the dismembered head of their Governor, their Mayor or even their teacher as long as they are republican!?
ReplyDeleteIt mushroomed and spread around the Country with ease. Now bigotry, and the reverse racism corrupts the mind, it poisons the soul, perverts the spirit. Alas, good medicine is not easy to find, no painless cure for the malady to quit. It's kill the White man, because he's unfit. The variety of our skin tones can confuse, bemuse, and delight, be it brown or beige, tan, or black, as long as it's not white. I've sailed up and down the seven seas. I've and stopped in every land, I've seen the wonders of the world, and not yet one common man. I've know ten thousand women. some called Jane and Mary Jane, but I've not seen any two who really were the same.
You cannot stamp out prejudice by logic. You cannot eradicate racism by reason. Stilll we must persist and cherish a hope in educating youth, so new generations, will fare fairer and have a purer scope, untainted by bigoted misconceptions. Some sit under the bridge in darkness, their ugly minds working overtime, thinking of lies to tell their children of the evil White man who was known as George Bush. But they're never satisfied with lies they spin of the past, now it's thoughts of Gun Control, the evil of the police, for gay marriage, and for extended social freedoms.
I also am against the American Patriot Act, For it violates all Americans' right to privacy,
And is something like dictatorship, and is completely wrong. Socialised Healthcare is a good thing,
For it will ensure that all Americans on the socioeconomic spectrum and will get quality, affordable healthcare.
It will help a lot. I am against capital punishment, for it is inhumane, the thoughts of Globel warming, the the Hair of Donald Trump.Calls ring of "Hands up don't Shoot ring throughout the land. Sad, wasted lives are the hideous disease known as the disease of liberalism.
"I've known many a women in this shot lifetime of mine ..."
DeleteDid you REALLY meant to say what you said there?
Somehow I doubt it, but what it indicates to me is that you could benefit immensely from some judicious self-editing.
Nice verse. You capture the dignity and sacrifice of hard work. Many in our society are blissfully ignorant of the human labor that supports our comfy lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteCamille Paglia made a specific defense of men against the snotty second- and third-wave feminists, and she captures this working world quite well:
It is overwhelmingly men who do the dirty, dangerous work of building roads, pouring concrete, laying bricks, tarring roofs, hanging electric wires, excavating natural gas and sewage lines, cutting and clearing trees, and bulldozing the landscape for housing developments. It is men who heft and weld the giant steel beams that frame our office buildings, and it is men who do the hair-raising work of insetting and sealing the finely tempered plate-glass windows of skyscrapers 50 stories tall.
Every day along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, one can watch the passage of vast oil tankers and towering cargo ships arriving from all over the world. These stately colossi are loaded, steered and off-loaded by men. The modern economy, with its vast production and distribution network, is a male epic, in which women have found a productive role — but women were not its author. Surely, modern women are strong enough now to give credit where credit is due!
I can only add that we also have millions of hard-working women as well, working in factories, farming and ranching, doing hard jobs once restricted to men-only, and performing the lowliest menial tasks of cleaning and laundering in homes and hotels.
There is great dignity in all of it.
Odd! I am what-many-would-scornfully-call "A Scion of Privilege" –– a polite way of saying "You're a Spoiled Brat!" ;-) but I have to say my father and mother –– both of whom came from humble backgrounds –– ALWAYS made me aware at every available opportunity that I was to be CONSIDERATE –– polite, kind, generous and grateful to everyone who worked for us either in the house, on the grounds, or at stores and restaurants we frequented.
DeleteThere IS great dignity in doing menial tasks honestly and faithfully.
I've seen since childhood that we're all like pieces in a great jigsaw puzzle. Every one of us counts. Every one of us is an indispensable part of the Whole –– if we ever hope to see the Complete Picture.
Some are destined to be an integral part of the Central Character or Characters, others merely part of the background –– a little piece of earth, sky, or perhaps a floor tile, tree, bird or window pane. But the Picture can never be complete, unless we take ALL parts of it into consideration.
I'm often reminded of this quotation:
For want of a nail a shoe was lost
For want of a shoe a horse was lost
For want of a horse a rider was lost
For want of a rider a KINGDOM was lost.
The point, of course, is that we have no way of knowing how significant what all the little things we do might be –– or might become –– so it is incumbent on us to do our best at all times in each transaction we make, whether it be small or large.
It really burns me up to see some arrogant asshole giving restaurant wait staff or store workers a hard time over some trivial matter. I think some small, petty people get off on belittling those they believe to be "below" them. What such pathetic POS's really reveal is an inferiority complex.
DeleteI know EXACTLY what you mean. Years ago I had the great misfortune to be seated near Betty Friedan during lunch at one of New York's swankiest restaurants. Her behavior was so obnoxious I felt embarrassed to have be in the same room with her.
DeleteOnce upon a time people of that despicable ilk would never have been seated in a restaurant of that quality.
The CURSE of EGALITARIANISM has taken much of the joy from life.
Here's a good one for Labor Day, composed by Pete Seeger from a Welsh poem...
ReplyDeletePete Seeger - The Bells Of Rhymney
Seeger frails that 12-string like a banjo towards the end. What a talent.
I appreciate the man's obvious sincerity, even though I absolutely despise his politics. As a fellow musician, albeit of a very different kind, I recognize your friend's uncanny ability to draw powerful expression from a very narrow range of basic musical material. The song never modulates, neither the melodic line nor the harmonic structure ever varies, his voice lacks power and dynamism, yet the INTENSITY that HE feels while performing this is almost palpable.
DeleteSo yes, it's remarkable, and I recognize it as a genuine from of Art, but I'll never be able to say "I like it" with any degree of sincerity
I suppose that's because this line of Protest and Lamentatious Stuff was symptomatic snd emblematic of the SICK-sties –– the era that ushered in the aggressive Downward Plunge Into the Abyss we've suffered with since before you were born. We suffer from it still and it's the basis for all we complain about every day.
To me Seeger and Baez and all that followed in their wake (pun fully intended ;-) have been singing one long THRENODY signaling the imminent demise of all that it once meant to be an AMERICAN.
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ReplyDeleteSorry, Joan. You made no reference either to the poetry or to Labor day, so your remark had to be deleted.
DeleteALL of us MUST learn to Stay On Topic.
Hope to see you back one day with relevant comments.
I despise those who deprecate blue collar workers.
ReplyDeleteLike a sly and lying troubled witch.
ReplyDeleteThe femme Nazi rides her big broom like a kamikaze.
The honesty test she fails,
She lied about her emails
And covered up the truth about Benghazi!
:-) Cute!
DeleteYou may not want to hear this because of your ( what I consider to be dilly) your rule of not being on topic? But I feel it's important enough to say it anyway. I have just stopped going to my church of 27 years due to their refusal to stop injecting their politics into official church positions(vestry) and sermons(pastor).Of course their politics is leftism.But the thing is they do not see that they are being political at all.They believe they are guiltless of this transgression because it is the right and honorable thing to do so their belief in this greater good theory justifies any other wrong they may be engaging in.We have seen this same "philosophy" at work in the media,academia and in so many other of our institutions.The NYT admitted as much with an editorial on their front news page recently and the same reasoning is being used by many other news outlets and reporters since then.These liberals simply cannot distinguish the difference between a principle of how law must be maintained or else it could be also used against their own beliefs when they are no longer in power.And these people are NOT uneducated.Even if they say that rid lying criminal is the " ( Smartest Women in the World") On the contrary they hold degrees and advanced degrees and positions of high responsibility.People like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do not succeed to the degree they have without a complete corruption of those who elect them. If these people are so damned "Smart" then how come they can't tell a document is Confidential without its having a flashing Red light on it?
ReplyDeleteAnd another part of their poisonous politically correct philosophy is inviting those who hate our freedoms to advance against us by silencing any and all criticism by calling critics racists and bigots.I am speaking of Islam's advancing gains in destroying the West..
God help us.
What you describe, Joan, is well-established syndrome inflicted on us by the Left. The insidious influence of Cultural Marxism has infiltrated ALL our institutions –– even the Church –– and has caused a slow-acting poison to seep into out culture for about one hundred years.
DeleteEven the VATICAN now houses a COMMUNIST POPE!
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ReplyDeleteSorry, Joan. You made no reference either to the poetry or to Labor Day, so your remark had to be deleted.
DeleteALL of us MUST learn to Stay On Topic.
Hope to see you back one day with RELEVANT comments.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Joan, but once AGAIN you made no reference either to the poetry or to Labor Day, so your remark had to be deleted.
DeleteALL of us MUST learn to Stay On Topic.
Hope to see you back one day with RELEVANT comments.
It won't happen again!
ReplyDeleteBecause I won't come here again!
Joan,
DeleteI'm sorry you feel that cooperating with the rules and guidelines of a territory not your own is "dilly" –– as you put it above in a post of yours I DID publish, and responded to politely.
You seem intelligent, and I agree with much of what you have had to say, but I don't think it's "dilly" to expect it to be relevant to the theme of the post in question.
After all if a Town Meeting is called to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of burying electrical wires and cable underground, it would be singular inappropriate if one were to raise his hand and say, "I want to object to the awful color Mrs. McGillicuddy has just painted her house. It's a terrible eyesore."
I hope you see my doubt? If not, then perhaps it's best we part company after all.