Saturday, November 20, 2010

THE COLD

The cold is the worst.
When you're sitting and you can't warm up.
The brutal winds make it worse.
The ice and snow flies sideways.
It hits me in the face.
It freezes to my beard.
I know I have seven more hours to finish my shift.
My boss is yelling at me to speed it up.
He's sitting in his warm pickup truck.
I see the steam rising from his coffee cup.
He's watching every move I make.
For two cents I'd walk off this damned machine.
I'd pull him out of his truck and kick his ass.
I'd never look back.
I'd trudge through the mud and snow.
I'd get in my truck and never return.
I'd set my heater at full blast.
I thought this thought on many a day.
But I stayed on my machine.
I was a "good German".
I pulled my levers to move his dirt.
I did this for thirty-five winters.
Now it's over.
Some days I long for the wind in my face.
The icicles in my beard.
Just so I can feel something.
***

2 comments:

  1. Rich...I heard that NASA is looking for volunteers to go on a one way trip to Mars. They want to start colonizing the dead red planet in case of a catastrophe here on earth! The idea being to save the human race from extinction. I'm thinking of signing up...was wondering if you'd like to join me in the suicide mission? Hey...at least we would really be living in our last few years...what do you say? If you didn't know, its super cold there!

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  2. Naw, Mike! I have a nice wife, to keep my feet warm in bed at night!

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