I was going through some files recently and I came across another poetic masterpiece I wrote some time ago. There are some deep, real-life, working-man, salt-of-the-earth brilliant thoughts, realizations, and philosophies here. Timeless stuff.

The Rat Race

I took one step, then slid two back,
This row was tough to hoe.
They told me to take up the slack,
Then said the pay was low!

We work so hard to stay ahead,
To get those ends to meet.
And then we find we’ve fought and bled
To just stay on our feet!

This rat race wouldn’t be so bad,
And maybe good I’d say,
If someone would put just a tad
More cheese along the way!

Tom Troyer, Copyright 2002
Inspired by LeRoy Yoder

I don’t really remember LeRoy, but he preached at church for a series of meetings. Oops. Probably shouldn’t have said that, you may figure out where I wrote this thing!

Any blue-collar working man who slaves his life away for a barely-above-poverty-level wage will be able to identify with this masterpiece. And he’ll know it could have only been created by a fellow blue-collar brother!