Hustle And Bustle
A Bum In A Junkyard
Hustle and bustle
there’s work goin on
the steel forklift rumbles
the shear clangors and gongs
the men stoop and scrape
I hear the hiss of a torch
from where I sit and gaze
deadbeat on a porch
The birds fly maneuvers
another one sings
a green mayfly hovers
on translucent wings
a robins’ dark eye
catches my own
and over nearby
I can hear the men groan
Nothing have I
nothing have they
nothing we’ll take with us
when we all go away
But they grumble and sweat
Glance at me and cuss
“How come that is him
and not one of us.”
I’ve the life of a bum
they don’t envy my riches
and I don’t envy their lot
the poor sons of bitches
they knew long ago
on a calm summers day
they could do as they wanted
could labor or play
they could grow up and work
or be free as a child
join the rest of the world
or be crazy and wild
Enjoy shade neath a tree
or mow down the grass
Watch the clouds sailing free
or get up off their ass
there ain’t no free lunch
I hear them all say
they’ve all got a hunch
I’ll catch on some day
’cause there’s bills to be paid
and babies are cryin
money has to made
a man’s gotta keep tryin
How can a guy
get by with no car
you have to stick to a plan
or you’ll never get far
So out in the sun
they swear as they toil
life isn’t much fun
life is labor and moil
but I loaf and I watch
the birds as they play
don’t need to do much
and ‘poof’ goes the day
the sun keeps on rollin’
‘cross heavens blue sky
throwing light as he’s goin
on them and on I
No a man doesn’t need
to work nor to play
Time in it’s greed
takes us all either way
pay the bills, it don’t matter
nor does a color TV
if it’s living one’s after
summer breezes are free
nothing have I
nothing have they
nothing we’ll take with us
when we all go away