Life of Labour

You can tell a lot about a person
By the books they read
And I’d been growing cold and colder
Through the aching the years
Like a cold cup of tea
And the skin on the milk is me
A trial by which to test
Your mettle
Oh, magnetic
Your frenetic
Fragmentary best
Well, a life in pieces pleases many people
But it’s all that I detest
So strip me of these prison greys
And wash them in the pages of a book
Where fortune’s favoured
Because life can seem a labour
But if to labour is to love
Then it’s your love that keeps me labouring
And you can tell a lot about a person
By the way they walk
A studied swagger, lazy gait
But which one’s early
Which one’s late
And you can tell a lot
But still we sometimes close our eyes
And look for something where it’s not
So strip me of these prison greys
And wash them in the pages of a book
Where fortune’s favoured
Because life can seem a labour
But if to labour is to love
Then it’s your love that keeps me labouring
I’m sure if I could see the future
I’d be buoyed by what I’d see
I’ve never shirked a little sweat
To work them demons
Out of me
There’s so much that you can learn
About a person
From the books they read
So fill your life with labour
Let the muscles burn and savour
Every ache and every pain that paves the way
To something greater
There’s no life without a love
And there’s not love without a labour