Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WORK AND REST by WALT MASON

First Line: TO WORK IS GOOD, TO SAW YOUR WOOD, WHILE
Last Line: THE SHOWS AND THINGS LIKE THOSE, AND LEAVE YOUR TASKS FOR DAYTIME.
Subject(s): LABOR & LABORERS; REST; WORK; WORKERS;
TO work is good, to saw your wood, while yet the sun is shining, to make the hoe

move to and fro, where pumpkin vines are twining. For men who shirk all useful
work are never happy mortals, by any chance—they do not dance and fill the

air with chortles. But don't, my lad, make work a fad, the end and aim of
living; for every day some time to play all toilers should be giving. In this
broad land we beat the band, the way we hump and hustle; we keep up steam and
work and scheme, and wear out mind and muscle. While young in years, above our
ears the gray of age is showing; it would be best to stop and rest, but still we

keep on going. Then something snaps—the brain, perhaps—beyond all
cures or patches, and we are shown to walls of stone, to cells in booby hatches.

To work is grand, but stay your hand, when comes the evening playtime; take in
the shows and things like those, and leave your tasks for daytime.



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