The Rat Race — Another Masterpiece from the Past
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!
4 Responses
April 24th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Such an uplifting and inspiring literary gem. Just what I needed to get my rear in gear on this fine and overcast Monday. I await more of these little blurbs of genius, but give me some warning so I can spike the coffee.
April 24th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
And that cheese is delicious until the big cat comes and tears your head off…I hate being the lowly creature.
April 25th, 2006 at 3:14 am
man, this is an amazing piece of work. If you’ll remember, tom, it inspired me to record this poem in a song version. in fact i found it on my computer the other day. its quite inspiring.
randy
April 25th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Absolutely stellar