Push Lament Of Sisyphus

All that is real we are pushing uphill

We invent vaccines and political machines

And even our wars are for the greater good

And even our streetwalkers are misunderstood



Life is a game that we play poker-faced

The paychecks and lawsuits,  the Wall Street charade

And all of our children are sponsored by I.B.M.

And even our sacred lawmakers get a per diem



Death we enhance with wakes and with eulogies

Upwardly mobile rock shifts and settles back a bit

We catch it and strain for another generation

Sisyphus is us,  we're a rock-bearing nation



And if we should slip

And our rocks all fall

Atomic catastrophe

Virus kill us all

Sisyphus will wait

For his children to grow

And start pushing pebbles



All that is real we are pushing uphill

We battle AIDS and cardiac murmurs

Shop for fast food and time-share vacations

Shop for hometowns and war-torn nations



Sisyphus dances under his ravaged rock

That has stopped and sways unheld

From the time of his death to the time of his birth

His heels kick up dirt and rattle the Earth


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Angie Kenna-Jones's picture

"one must imagine sisyphus happy!"--albert camus

Rachelle Wiegand's picture

I liked this poem... "our children are sponsored by ibm" and "even our sacred law makers are paid per diem" very great lines...thanks.