Doesn’t seem like a lot of labor:
2 hours collecting and burning sticks
and branches and twigs,
some cutting with the chainsaw.
Then 2 more hours shoveling and raking,
raking and shoveling 3 yards of loam,
spreading it all around
where the old apple tree used to be.

But I guess it really is a lot of labor
because I’ve strained a muscle
in my upper back
that stings with every breath I take,
and my lower back and hips
still have burning pain and fatigue
and it’s 2 days later!

Muscles take longer to recover as you get older,
you get sore easier,
remain sore longer. But apparently,
I haven’t yet got the picture.
I still think I’m 24, have the stamina
and strength of my youth.

But I hope now I’ve finally learned my lesson,
this painful lesson of going easier on myself,
so I won’t be so sore and sensitive,
throbbing and burning with pain.
Hopefully I’ve learned finally,
to act my age – but I doubt it.
What man, what true man, can submit,
can agree, to go gentle
into that dark night?