Boys, I’ve listened to your horseshit enough.
You want to know what hard work is, listen up:
I’ve rode a misery whip; carried hod;
Pulled green-chain; broke big rocks into little rocks;
Whupped a hundred miles of picket fence;
Set choker in country so rough
You were doing good if you could crawl downhill.
I’ve fought wildfire; lugged sandbags against floods;
Bucked hay till I was tripping on my tongue;
And made so damn much split stuff
I plumb wore out a sledgehammer head
And a couple o’ pairs of elk-hide gloves.
So you boys can write it down as gospel when I tell you
The hardest work you’ll find in this world
Is digging the grave for someone you loved.