Why Do You Labor?

Please tell me, my friend, why do you labor,
Caught up in duties so mundane and trite?
Surely you're one who could have done better,
Held jobs more worthy and noble and bright.

You could have had honors and loftiest praise
And worldly success and all that attend,
Had you but taken the time to pursue them,
Had not commitment to home reigned you in.

I'll tell you, my friend, why I have labored,
Why I have had but one goal in my quest.
Worldly success you speak of so highly
May give you the good but cost you the best.

I labor because I have some dear children
Who by my actions must learn how to live.
God only grants a brief time of labor;
My children deserve the best I can give.

Though in the rays of dawn I first started,
Day is now waning, and shadows fall dark.
While light remains this vision compels me:
Eternal treasure in home and in hearth.

Copyright 1999 James McAlister

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