a smile and a wink

i have worked terrible jobs
in horrible places for pathetic pay
without future.

you have too.

we work the hours of the potentially
rich
              without
the benefit of reward.

a paycheck?
yeah,
          we get one.
what of it?
is it securing a future
for you and your's?
no? well that's what i'm getting at.

you work away the hours, the days,
the weeks, the years, the decades,
and when you're finally done,
there doesn't seem to be enough
                                            to stop.
you're stuck in the dead end. but
there are a few who luck out
and get to do what makes them
                                             happy.
and be sure that those people
are few and far                 between.
they're a fluke.                  the rest
of us are so goddamn stuck that
we might as well be working in a
flypaper factory with our assholes
used as glue dispensers.

and it gets worse from then on out.
there's the mortgages and the car
payments, the utility bills, and food.
there's clothes to buy and entertainment
to be had. and maybe you like a drink
every once in a while, or a smoke,
or a toke - whatever your poison,
but there's health insurance to buy
and the kids aren't ready for school,
not the real school where they learn
that they're screwed from the very first
breath they take.

don't even think about
how much you're going
to pay
                                                     in taxes!
fuck, it'll make you cry.

so back to your shitty job. we all have them,
every damn one of us,
and they barely pay the bills
and when it's all said and done,
we spend our lives there, making
what we can
and enduring the misery of it all ...

and along comes a smile,
or a wink - even better -
and your day is a bit more endurable
and maybe the dream is real
and you can retire
remembering that wink,
that smile
and it makes the time pass
easy.

then there's the cemetery plot
and the headstone,
and you had better bought yourself some
life insurance or whoever you left
behind
is going to have one hell of a bad time
trying to plant your ass in the dirt.

but there's another smile
and you think that maybe they like you,
maybe it's not all that bad.

and here comes a wink
and you laugh because it's the best thing that's
happened all day.

and your car breaks down
and you shit your pants at work
but they won't let you go home
to change.
you have to keep popping out
those cogs
for the machine that owns you.

when you finally get home, you stink of
a hard days work,
but there's a smile and a wink
waiting for you at the door.

and you get up in the morning to do it
all over again
and hope for another wink
and maybe a smile when the day
has come
to an end
so you can pretend
that it is all worth
the effort.