Nothing could complement “The Daily Grind” by poet Fenton Johnson better than “Green Beans” served up by artist Kadir Nelson.
If Nature says to you,
“I intend you for something fine,
For something to sing the song
That only my whirling stars can sing,
For something to burn in the firmament
With all the fervor of my golden sun,
For something to moisten the parched souls
As only my rivulets can moisten the parched,”
What can you do?
If the System says to you,
“I intend you to grind and grind
Grains of corn beneath millstones;
I intend you to shovel and sweat
Before a furnace of Babylon;
I intend you for grist and meat
To fatten my pompous gods
As they wallow in an alcoholic nectar,”
What can you do?
Naught can you do
But watch that eternal battle
Between Nature and the System.
You cannot blame God,
You cannot blame man;
For God did not make the System,
Neither did man fashion Nature,
You can only die each morning,
And live again in the dreams of the night….
“The Daily Grind,” a poem by Fenton Johnson (1888-1958), when you know you’re meant for greatness…and yet here you are…rising with roosters…toiling for cable and useless minutes on a cellphone…strength waning to perform God’s purpose. Bummer.
“Taught school one year and repented.” –Fenton Johnson, in an autobiographical note from An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets (1927).
Can you imagine being a teacher but you detest children, especially the “bad” ones? Can you imagine being a doctor, but you can’t bear to listen to common folk complain…about their health? And about how they told the last doctor but nothing happened? Are you called Reverend, but you have a wife…and a side piece?
You know that thing you’d rather be doing? That thing that relaxes your eyes and softens your face when you daydream about? That thing that comes up from your soul and puts the shine in your smile? That thing that’s hard work to everyone else that feels like a barefooted walk on a sweet bed of velvety roses to you?
It’s probably your purpose whispering to you.
What can YOU do…to make it happen?
(Warning: Over time, the whispering may turn to shouting.)
