Forty Years Of Hard Labor
65
.
The man asked,
“What do you for a living?”
As if this world,
Was just of taking and giving.
.
.
I’ve been to schools,
With the biggest of fools.
I’ve dug a hole,
With torn body and soul.
.
In so many ventures,
I’ve dared though scared.,
And there are so many things,
That I’ve repaired.
.
.
I’ve labored,
In the aisles of a grocery store,
Until my feet were sore,
And I could take no more.
.
I saw an old woman,
Steal a can,
And I never reported it,
To the “man”.
.
.
I’ve started cars,
That wouldn’t crank.
And I’ve been inside,
A septic tank.
.
I built cabinets,
For a teacher,
Who hated a child,
Raped by a preacher.
.
.
I’ve paddled a boat,
For a tight-assed goat.
And dug many a ditch,
For a son-of-a bitch.
.
For innocent children,
I’ve taken the time,
To repair their bikes,
And not charged a dime.
.
.
I swept floors,
And gave my money to whores,
As if I had money to burn.
But never took pleasures in return.
.
I hoed a garden for the aged,
From a code of giving.
But “this” isn’t considered,
“Making a living”.
.
.
I’ve welded, molded,
And bent steel with my hand,
Trying to prove,
My worth as a man.
.
I’ve adjusted brakes,
Repaired the gears.
I’ve worked my ass off,
Through wasted years.
.
.
I drove a truck for a spell,
For Ralph Morrell.
I went to a war,
I call Vietnam Hell.
.
I was married to a shrew,
Who wouldn’t screw,
But always had chores,
For me to do.
.
.
I’ve had beautiful visions,
As I’ve sat in the prisons.
I’ve been left in the lurch,
By government and church.
.
Sometimes I’m happy. Sometimes I’m pissed.
And though I sometimes shake my fist,
Mine is a life not lived,
And mine is a life that is never missed.
.
.
I shirk, no work,
Like our lazy leaders,
Who applaud hard work,
But are merely “bottom feeders”.
.
Though I’ve built my own home,
I’ve not seen it in years.
And it’s hard to see,
Through so many tears.
.
.
I have a pick-up truck I seldom use.
I can’t afford gas, just to cruise.
And here I am at 62.
And I still haven’t worked enough for you.
.
Forty years of hard labor,
And what do you get?
A country and family,
Who are quick to forget.
.
.
~Micky Dee~
.
I had this rock put in this very spot.
I built the house/inn below.
I planted most of the plants and trees.
I haven't seen this rock in years.
.
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I loved this BROTHER MAN! You are so real. I'd buy you a beer and dig a ditch with you anytime. You have my respect and pay no mind to what anyone on tv or the radio has to say about human worth. You are alive and we feel it....
Mickey you have been rewarded for your labor with pain and regrets. Along the way you have become a talented author and by the look of the photographs a talented metal artist. Many of us have worked those hours of labor and reaped little. You have reaped wisdom.
And as long as we work slowly, I'll help dig that ditch also.
And heres to many more years Micky
I am AWESTRUCK !!! I super-duper love the poem and the pictures! You are so creative, Mickey! Two-thumbs up!
A poem of life's journey, beautiful
I an assuming that the intricate metal craft is your work, they are beautiful pieces of work.
We labour through life for very little return and often very little or no appreciation. Our rewards are the experiences of life we gain along the way and the friendships that we make.
The rock is more important than the house to you, did you place it so that you would have your own special place to go and sit awhile to think and dream and pray?
Voted up all the way except funny
Hi Micky that's one hell of a poem dude, it says so much about your feelings and you do have the right to say "stuff everyone, i've done my bit". This poem has really hit me hard and i hope that you understand how infrequent such an event occurs. God bless brother from your fellow writer mate Keith.
Micky I hear ya loud and clear brother. I to have been on my journey of discovery, I've had more careers in the last 45 years than I care to mention. Being screwed by the Man who never gave a dam, married twice but nothing turned out nice, 4 kids from the second, then she took the gold mine and I got the shaft.
Have only one son in my life the other three she gave them a knife to carve up their daddy's soul. I have been in the hole, on the dole, in the streets, in the courts, painted with a black brush by the Maintenance Enforcement ladies group and lost most of my loot to the lawyers and judges who parade in their silk suits and educate their children in fine private schools from the churning accounts from the misery felt in their divorce courts by dumb ass people getting divorced.
I will stop here brother as I can go on and on. Life is closing in and I to am reaching the end, so pen to pad I lay it all down with the hope that one day my legacy may be read when I am buried and dead.... You wrote much, beautifully illustrated and I saw a lot of the Saddle between those lines.
A wonderful poem. Your words tell the story of a man who is a survivor, longing for his dream to come true. I am sure that most of us at this age echo many of your words. I loved the metal work, you are talented in more ways than one.
Mickey DEE, you are truly free
of all but the fek'n misery;
the struggle is the core of wealth
the trouble is the price of health.
sligobay
The "WANT" is the strategy of the man and the church. I want "everlasting life" in heaven because they told me that I do. To live in want of anything is the curse of humanity which has been visited on us all by those who have and pretend to have. All the things that I have had, I held onto with the death grip of resentment which I couldn't let go. My first wife lives with her "partner" in our first home. I gutted that home with my uncle Tony and sweat blood. We ran the electric and plumbing form top to bottom and I built the deck off the back and installed the sliding doors from the kitchen. My first two daughters grew up in that home. I signed it over to her in the divorce for them. I took the building skills and a clear conscience away with me. I let go of the home for a higher purpose. The same scenario applies to my second wife, second pair of daughters and second divorce. I carried the building skills and a clear conscience away. I let the home go. I am free of material possessions. More importantly I am more free of the WANT.
I am single and sober for more than ten years and still struggle to survive "materially" but am free. I'd rather live in a cardboard box but I am too old to be that free. Iam still possessed by the WANT of Heaven and the want of financial independence and security. I don't cling to this world but I don't long for the next. I am comfortable in my own skin and am prepared to meet my Maker if that is in the cards. Alternatively, I am prepared to be recycled in the sea as fish food.
Your metal work is splendid and I would like to possess some but would then need to keep a place to hold it and admire it. I would prefer to remember it because I can carry my memories with me in a small sack. Cosumerism was a WANT given me by industrialists. I need no medicine from pharmaceutical giants because the earth provides all that we need. All I ever received from 5th Avenue suits is Exederin Headache #9. Great Life and Great HUB. Gerry
I am grateful to have the opportunity to follow you.
Sligobay - brother brother man!!! "I signed it over to her in the divorce for them. I took the building skills and a clear conscience away with me. I let go of the home for a higher purpose. The same scenario applies to my second wife, second pair of daughters and second divorce. I carried the building skills and a clear conscience away. I let the home go."
Brother man - I have not seen that house in years. It would be nice to take a shower in the most beautiful out-door shower that I've ever seen. It's large enough to sit in. Large rocks will allow that. It would be nice to sit on the rock at the top of the hay field.
I can't tear work down.
I can't give money to lawyers.
God bless brother man. I do not want.
Saddlerider my brother man. Why in heaven or hell should there be a scorched Earth policy for other humans?
I'm with you saddlerider my brother man.
All we can do is write a poem about it.
God bless you all for commenting.
Mickey - this is truly a human poem of high order. I felt every word deeply.
I've read all the comments, too, and would second every thought and feeling expressed in them, as well as all expressed by your poem.
As a woman who has given much and lost much in the fray, I can honestly say I empathize with those sentiments - even to the building and loss of that. But what I most admire is the triumphant spirit your poem expresses undeniably.
Someone once gave me these words to hang on to when I needed all the encouragement I could get: "Go get'm Tiger - They can't keep a good woman down!" - - I have always felt it was a genderless motto. That is why I call yours a "human poem of high order". And I'm pretty sure that the stuff one dishes out to others - of either kind - comes back to one's own life to either haunt or reward us. Yours can reward you, dear Mickey! Hugs.
What a writer you are! I really love that in this poem, along with what it actually expresses about life. And your artwork in metal is truly wonderful, and more so because it was made for and given to those who deserved such treasures and expressions of love and honor.
God bless you Nellieanna. I do appreciate your words. "Go get'm Tiger - They can't keep a good woman down!"
Micky....as always a profound read!!-I love the metal work-you are,I see , a gifted craftsman among your many many talents.You really are a one off special person Micky Dee !
These are the words of a man who has lived a full life or who has seen more than most. Your wisdom infuses the poetry here, Micky and the meaning is loud and clear. Nice poem. They'd hear this is Washington, I think.
But they didn't get your soul, Michael. It's there as strong as ever and the only way you'll ever lose it is to give it away. You have suffered long, lost much and still give of yourself. That tells me you are the winner!
Micky, Do you think you can ever forget
The feelings of hurt and embedded regrets?
I've learned that you have four daughters
I didn't know, more food for fodder
You've lost homes, built with loving hands
You remember, you drew up the plans
The rock you placed with loving care
Is just a reminder, it's still siting there
It's just a rock. It has no meaning
Incapable of love, no peaceful dreaming
To my way of thinking, you've won the grand prize
Your heart is good, no pretense, no disguise
Poeple who've hurt you in the past
Are losers,and now you're free at last!!!
God Bless you Micky...
A brilliant hub Micky, and as always told in your own natural way.
I vote up here without a doubt.
Take care and thanks for sharing.
Eiddwen.
Thank you all so much. Believe me when I say that your comments mean SO much to me.
Dear Ruby, I wish I had 4 daughters maybe. I am very satisfied with one daughter. I stayed in a loveless relationship for almost 20 years. That was hard labor in itself.
I can't forget many things dear Ruby.
I can't forget the Buffalo shots on 15 East that rendered me unconscious to fall on the floors.
I can't forget the chain-gang and false imprisonment.
I can't forget an entire county that would turn away when locals harassed with deer heads in mailboxes and strewn deer carcasses in the drive-way.
I can't forget standing up in restaurants and saying clearly that the word "nigger" offends me.
I can't forget a court system that has no intention of being fair or being about justice at all.
I can't forget cops that beat up a friend of mine and arrested him for possessing a knife when he cut cloth with the knife in the textile plant where he worked. The knife had a hooked blade perfect for the cutting of cloth.
I can't forget that the textile plant is closed.
I can't forget that all textile plants are closed in America.
I can't forget that our government supports business like Tommy Hilfiger that makes shirts in sweatshops and sells them here in the US for $150.
I'll not forget neo-conservatives who have attacked this Veteran here on hubpages and beyond.
I can't forget neo-conservatives who do not believe in God - that have seized America and plunged us into endless war -self-professed atheists who believe it's okay to lie to the citizens, kill its citizens, and many innocent people to further their cleansing of a "liberal America". I can't forget these murders. I can't forget the worst investigation in the history of mankind concerning 911. Travesties of unparalleled proportion are carried out without a blink of an eye from America. But it falls right back to the courts. Lawyers and judges will not police themselves and they don't care that people suffer. The neo-cons don't care how many have to suffer as long as their "cleansing continues". I guess I'll never forget.
Thank you dear Ruby. I love you dear.
God bless you all.
Back again Micky Dee
Ruby mixed you and me
Four sweet girls from two wives
Black slate hearts cut like knives.
sligobay
Hey MickyDee. You are one of the people I currently respect on HubPages.
This is so, so YOU and you should be proud of it.!!!!
love you, man , as aways.x
Did I just read the spirit-brother of Woody Guthrie laying his life out. One that speaks for so many others as well. Maybe. But there's no question I've just been gobsmacked and put in a near state of reverence by one of the best poems ever written on this here site; bar none. MickyDee, you are the man.
Loved this poem and your write art work as well! I can relate to giving and losing much. Perhaps this is what makes us better writers from the heart? What is certain is that we are real, we are still here; we love, are loved, and what we do and say matters. No one can take this from us. Up and awesome Mick!
Hello Micky,
well written piece-Love to sit on the rock and have a deep chat about the rotters in this world,
jandee
I love you because you are down to earth and real!!! God Bless you Mickey! Voted-Up!!!
I love your poem and I enjoyed reading your comments. You are truly a down-to-earth thinking man.
Sorry I've been gone. Man have I missed you! What a piece of work to come back to. I love you man!
Micky Dee - What talents you have shared here: your gift of poetry, artistry, carpentry, serving, giving, fixing, hoeing, repairing and swearing, fathering and building and riding and writing and loving and losing. Not many people can say they've been where you have ridden. You have really lived rather than just making a living.
You are one talented gent MD.
All the best to you.
MartieCoetser Level 8 Commenter 8 months ago
Micky, I guess you've summarized this issue perfectly with this verse -
Sometimes I’m happy. Sometimes I’m pissed.
And though I sometimes shake my fist,
Mine is a life not lived,
And mine is a life that is never missed.
King Solomon's version: (Ecclesiastes 1-end): "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?..."
Take care, Micky!