 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
208
The Laborers
The workman shall not always work; who builds,His house shall finish with the last-raised stone;
The last small measure full the vessel fills;
The last step taken and thy journey's done;
But where is he, who but one hour ago,
Lifted with toiling arm the burthen nigh;
And he whose vessel to the brim did flow,
Or he who laid his staff and sandals by?
I see them still at work another way,
From those that late thou sawest thus employed;
And heard them each unto the other say,
As to new tasks they bent them overjoyed,
“The sun is rising, haste! that he may see,
When setting, every hand from labor free.”
Poem No. 605; late 1839—early 1840
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |