Posts Tagged: Labor Day

“The Sweetest Dream that Labor Knows”

On September 6, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“There was never a sound beside the wood but one,
And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.
What was it it whispered? I know not well myself;
Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,
Something perhaps, about the lack of sound—
And that was why it whispered and did not speak.
It was not dream of the gift of idle hours,
Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:
Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak
To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,
Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers
(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.
The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.
My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.” (Robert Frost, “Mowing”)

On this Labor Day, I have been thinking about work. I haven’t been doing a lot of work, just thinking about it.

I think it was Studs Terkel who said that work is an act of violence. Sometimes that is so. However, Robert Frost has a different take on work. I don’t know precisely what the next to the last line of this poem means. Often, Frost’s poems mean more than they say. But I suspect that the poet is saying that the actual doing of the work is the thing that is sweet.

Now, I grew up on a farm. In fact, I have sometimes used a handheld scythe to mow hay next to the fence where it wasn’t safe to use the tractor and power mower. It was hard, sweaty, muscle-cramping work. So was much of the work on the farm.

However, once in a while, I felt a great satisfaction in work accomplished. The work I did on our own farm was not for pay. Dad felt that providing me with a house, food, and clothing was pay enough. He was right. But sometimes, that pleasure of finishing a task—or even being in the midst of it—was payment in and of itself.

I still feel that way sometimes. Sharon needed some help with washing the windows a while ago, and also some help getting the curtains back up. There was pleasure in doing so. I feel a similar pleasure when I write. Writing is work, but it is good work.

To take pleasure in work is not always an easy thing to do. But there is pleasure to be taken. And we should also take pleasure in appreciating the hard work of others. The pleasure of work is no substitute for adequate pay, but it is a nice perk.

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