Frozen Paint
He told me a story in moments.
I was in my old neighborhood,
Yet he went back way beyond me.
It was a cold twenty below,
The hull of a barge needed paint.
There was a crew in the twenties, in their twenties.
The paint was freezing, the men were freezing…
“Add some oil to it!” shouted the foreman.
The cold was getting into the marrow,
It was a Saturday; it was too much to take.
The time had come to abandon the hull,
Even the paint was giving out.
Home was so appealing, just two hours early,
What harm would that cause?
Come Monday it would be payday,
Less two hours, that will be fine.
“What? We’re fired! Why? It was too cold…
How come he’s not fired?
So he stayed and put frozen paint on a barge!
Big deal, I could have done that, it was too cold.
So what; is he a hero or something?
What do you mean he was loyal to the cause?
I could have been; it was just too cold…”
Joseph James
10/26/11 - Thank you Angelo
© from 'O the Elms'
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