Work

They open the doors

They take care of us

They introduce us to

Others like us

They pick up the pieces

The things we choose not to do

Not to take part in

Not to indulge in

Not to waste

Our time with

And for this

We allow it

But not that alone

It’s from them that we get

The candy we want

The beauty that is beyond us

The taste of skin

Of sex

Of success

The shiny toys

We’ve always lacked

The ones we never felt worthy of

All the missing pieces

But time folds

And not in our favor

We fall to sleep

Eternally

And in our wake

They’re left to tell our stories

Through the veils of their perceptions

And those perceptions

Through the veil of their own worth

And so they tell the story

Accentuating each moment

Where credit can be theirs

Finding someway towards

Their own worth in yours

You are dead

Immortalized in some documentary

Or some television hour

Tainted by their vision

Of their own 15 minutes

Of worth

But it’s your worth

Your fame

And they forget that

It was your vision

All along

Long before

They’d come along

Nothing is free in this world

And I guess

We have to remember

All

That is truly worthy

Is our work

ⓒ 2010 Shawn Michael Quinn