Phillip RaimoApr 51 min readBuilder or Wrecker? A POEMAs I watched them tear a building downA gang of men in a busy townWith a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yellThey swung a beam and the side wall fell.I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,And the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”He laughed and said, “No, indeed,Just common labor is all I need.”“I can easily wreck in a day or twoWhat builders have taken years to do.”And I thought to myself, as I went my wayWhich of these roles have I tried to play?Am I a builder who works with care,Measuring life by rule and square?Am I shaping my work to a well-made planPatiently doing the best I can?Or am I a wrecker who walks to townContent with the labor of tearing down?
As I watched them tear a building downA gang of men in a busy townWith a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yellThey swung a beam and the side wall fell.I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,And the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”He laughed and said, “No, indeed,Just common labor is all I need.”“I can easily wreck in a day or twoWhat builders have taken years to do.”And I thought to myself, as I went my wayWhich of these roles have I tried to play?Am I a builder who works with care,Measuring life by rule and square?Am I shaping my work to a well-made planPatiently doing the best I can?Or am I a wrecker who walks to townContent with the labor of tearing down?
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