We sell our Life for minimum wage—
And now they get our Dreams for free.²
They say: “Trading slaves is unlawful,” but
Isn’t the trading of Free people more a crime?³
Each is doing our life in Dreams for Wages,
Some shit’s profits, and our payment
On a dreamed family plan …⁴
Employees must Pluck out an
Eye before reporting for Work.⁵
They assign a body endowed with a
Noble Spirit to an inferior profession.⁶
The Life we’ve always wanted, guess we’ll never have—
We’ll be working for somebody else ‘til we’re in our grave.⁷
Was she told when she was young that Pain would lead
To Pleasure? Did she understand it when they said
That a man must break his back to earn his day of
Leisure—will she still believe it when he’s Dead?⁸
We are tired of planning & toiling
In the crowded hives of men—we are
Heart-weary of Building and Spoiling,
And spoiling and building again … for a
Dreamer lives Forever and a toiler dies in a day.⁹
What I Dream of is the very thing it’s lacking:
It’s work without Poetry—without Meaning!¹⁰
¹ Helen Keller, Why I Became a Socialist
² Richard Linklater, Waking Life
³ Abu Salma, My Country on Partition Day
⁴ Alan Dugan, Morning at Speed Products
⁵ C.D. Wright, Deepstep Come Shining
⁶ Giovanni Boccaccio tr. Wayne Rebhorn, The Decameron
⁷ Tracy Chapman, Mountains O’ Things
⁸ John Lennon, Girl
⁹ John Boyle O’Reilly, The Cry of a Dreamer
¹⁰ Anton Chekhov tr. Constance Garnett, Three Sisters