The higher that we stake our claim
The loftier our reach,
The fewer people play the game,
The more it means to each.
The greater sums that we invest,
The richer the reward,
The better that we do our best,
The louder they applaud,
The closer that we get to home,
The easier we sleep,
The longer that I write this poem,
The less it’s worth to keep.
. The finer that we mill our grains,
. The less of what began remains.

© Tim Grace, 20 April 2011

To the reader: The nub of the matter is often in dispute. People like to get to the point. We resent a purposeless consumption of energies. We seek positive relationships between inputs and outputs; effort and return. Each of us has a measuring stick by which we determine our expected degree of gain. At some point that extra bit of effort loses its impact. Satisfaction is the pivot; frustration the tipping point!

To the poet: As a definite article ‘the’ serves two masters. Firstly, it’s attached to items deserving specific attention within the text. Secondly, it establishes a reader-to-writer relationship relative to objects and subjects in the narrative. The defines things as specific to the statement; anchors internal meaning to external understandings of position and place. By the way, ‘the’ is the most commonly used word in the English language.

the grind