What is the history of Labor Day?
From the Knights of Labor
to the Haymarket Riots
the IWA
and Grover Cleveland
it seems a pagan
and political event.

When we make a god of profit
it is noble to pause
and celebrate workers
and thank God
for our jobs.

But I wonder
about those forgotten millions
who spent nights of labor
giving birth and nursing
and days cleaning
sweaty clothes
and dirty dishes
canning and darning
from early morning
and last to lay their heads
on the lumpiest of the pillows.

I think of the powerful men
who line our history books
making tall headlines
shortening the lives
of those beneath them.
And the truly great
who forge the walls of hate
to create new laws and rules
protecting the powerless
and feeding the hungry.

What largess of love
what shoulders
what comfort
what listening
what courage
made it possible
for the grand an glorious
to leave the house
and take on the world?

We do not celebrate the lovers
on this day
nor acknowledge
the balance their hearts gave
on the scales of history.

Hail to those whose labor
marched silently in tiny decisions
to swallow their own needs
in service of greater good.

These dear hearts
are the great ones
I honor this day.

09/04/2006

Posted on 09/04/2006
Copyright © 2025 Glenn Currier