Gary Johnson: "Good Workers"

Let us praise good workers (you know who you are)
Who come gladly to the job and do what you can
For as long as it takes to repair the car
Or clean the house—the woman or man
Who dives in and works steadily straight through,
Not lagging and letting others carry the freight,
Who joke around but do what you need to do,
Like the home caregiver who comes daily at eight
A.m. to wash and dress the man in the wheelchair
And bring him meals and put him to bed at night
For minimum wage and stroke his pale brown hair.
He needs you. "Are you all right?" "I'm, all right,"
      He says. He needs you to give him these good days,
      You good worker. God's own angels sing your praise.



"Good Workers" by Gary Johnson. Text as published on The Writer's Almanac (01/09/2011).

Art credit: "Helping a Disabled Man in Wheelchair," still shot from video by marians @ VideoHive.

Gary Johnson: "December"

A little girl is singing for the faithful to come ye

Joyful and triumphant, a song she loves,

And also the partridge in a pear tree

And the golden rings and the turtle doves.

In the dark streets, red lights and green and blue

Where the faithful live, some joyful, some troubled,

Enduring the cold and also the flu,

Taking the garbage out and keeping the sidewalk shoveled.

Not much triumph going on here—and yet

There is much we do not understand.

And my hopes and fears are met

In this small singer holding onto my hand.

          Onward we go, faithfully, into the dark

          And are there angels singing overhead? Hark.

"December" by Gary Johnson. Text as published online by The Writer's Almanac (December 22, 2011).

Art credit: "Mother and Child Abstract," photograph by Constantin Opris.