sisyphus

SISYPHUS

How many times I’ve tried
To say just what it is
I’m doing with this rock.
Exhaustion, hope, despair
Are things I’ve talked about,
And irony or prayer,
Or how I’ve held this rock
To be a part of me.
I think I’ve learned enough
To say it’s just a job.
Each day brings changes, but
Ultimately not much:
Working the damned thing up
Takes what it takes, but then –
To watch it teeter, hear it
Thunder, all that anger
Grinding down the slope!
You don’t, as the god said,
Get something for nothing. No.

From Third Poems (1979) in Collected Poems (1995)