8/04/2006

On Busy Days

Though late to wake she quickly moves to start her daily chores

The email shows two orders in, tomorrow would be more

Once printed out she finds her cup and to the kitchen goes

Then steps outside to weed and prune and move the water hose

While cleaning up the clippings she pulls hoses to and fro

Without the extra water most the plants would fail to grow

Back in the shop she starts to get the orders set to print

Then wanders to the hill to pull more weeds around the mint

She comes in through the front door and grabs a bite to eat

Then takes it to the office where she tries to keep things neat

Another order soon comes in while on her site she works

And always in the background, the admonitions lurk

She hears about her laziness, her failure to be neat

She hears that spending money is to bring her to defeat

Yet still she tries to carry on and do her several tasks

Make lesson plans, fill orders and do other jobs when asked

En route now from the bathroom, the laundry fills her arms

She pulls clothes from the dryer as the iron quickly warms

Then back outside she moves the hose and turns the water off

Still hearing voices tell her that she never does enough

Her classes will be starting and she needs new handouts done

Then she sands a pile of boxes and tells herself its fun

While in her head she calculates the profits to be made

She shuts the waiting iron off as plans begin to fade

It’s getting close to dinner time, a meal to be prepared

She checks back on her mental list to see how she has fared

While loading up the dishwasher she feels that she has lost

Accomplishments were broad and wide and yet she missed the most

She sits beside him on the couch, her first rest of the day

Yet relaxation passes by as plans get in the way

Tomorrow if she finds the time the dusting will get done

Build a shelter for the garden to protect it from the sun

Finish up the orders and get them on their way

Tidy up the counters where the piles of papers lay

She drags herself to bed that night, her mind and body spent

Ashamed of all her failures asking where the hours went

As sleep climbs on she hears again the things she hasn’t done

And feels the pain so often come though she has told no one

The shaming statements come to mind just as she falls to sleep

An ugly thought invades her dream, not one she wants to keep

That when her breathing stops and her heartbeat is no more

They write upon her tombstone, “She didn’t sweep the floor”

   
***
 
No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you.
 
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness In Plain English"

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