A Reflection

"I do most of my work sitting down; that's where I shine."
- Humorist Robert Benchley

I do most of my work sitting down, as I
Am a computer programmer. Not
A desirable job, to say the least, rather
I consider myself to be just another

Tradesman, plying his trade like any
Other would do, driving nails, bending
Pipe (of one variety or another), tarring
Roofs of buildings, plowing furrows . . .

A computer is just another tool,
Is it not? Like a hammer, a saw, an anvil
(Though perhaps much more like an anvil
Or an anchor than I’d like it to be.)

Some days, like today, I rather wish I
Was Garrison Keillor, Teller of Tales
Of Lake Wobegon, or Harry Connick, Jr.,
A Singer of Popular Songs . . . but I’m not.

Not that I don’t shine, sometimes;
Sometimes I impress with the speed
At which I pound out code, fingers
Lighting the keyboard on fire, Logic

Firing on all synapses, it’s all there
Before me, like the world laid out at
The feet of Christ himself. For a time
I have it All Together; I am Happy.

Arbeit Macht Frei, nicht? A Self-
Sacrifice in the form of endless labor.
Or should a sign be posted:
Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.

For this is not the sacrifice Christ
Made for us; the means of salvation.
This is the sacrifice of time away from
Those we love, to be able to support

Those we love. And realizing that, it
Seems evident and abvious that
I cannot really be Happy, even in
The minor successes of working.

But I am often Happy sitting down
Wife next to me on the sofa, watching
Dancing with the Stars, rubbing her
Feet, and, quietly, loving her.