On the way

This is my suitcase with my prescription drugs and my maryjane shoes.  Takes up a lot of space but the good news is - it's light weight.  Following is the poem Jan brought us.

To Be of Use

 

By Marge Piercy

 

The people I love best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half submerged balls.

 

I love people who harness themselves, as an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done again and again.

 

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who stand in the line and haul in their places,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters

but move, in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.