There’s a deep pain
That she can’t access
She won’t. Never.
Because she can’t fathom
Any benefit whatsoever

So long live the factotum
Long live the toiler
There’s only a hunch life
Only a hunch life for me now
Which can only be mouthed silently

See, I know I’m not work-shy
You can’t be where I am
You can’t do what I do
Without a knuckle in your ribs
Without a kite and a wind

She can’t equal that grit
Can’t even mount that red flag
And absolutely won’t fawn over
Or beseech the dusty road
To yield an a-ha

So she and all the other fussbudgets
Can squander breathlessly to the grave
And to her far off kin I’ll be fair
She never knew my need for words and rescue
And I never knew her need to peg away and peg away and peg away