We work, we sell our life away in shifts.
We think of paychecks as if they were gifts.
Ephemeral, they somehow slip away,
Our life, as well, in hours and in days.
But what is left when all is said and done?
Its over just as soon as it’s begun.
So we are left with nothing in the end,
With things we cannot keep or comprehend,
The distillate of all our hopes and dreams,
The time we spent, the passion too, it seems.
The gadgets we were told we need to have,
Are sacrifices made to golden calves.
So in the end we find they are but taunts,
These unsupported bridges of our wants.
For life will seldom give us what we yearn,
And sometimes will begrudge us what we earn.
It’s love that puts the meaning into life,
That counters negativity and strife,
That teaches us to nurture and to give,
Eschewing greed, it shows us how to live.
© Glenn Meisenheimer, 2014