Drudgery

May my days be attendance and tedium
A careful hew
With each grain

I'll arrive
On time and by time
To my saw, my lathe, my hands

May the wood reject me
May our bond be worn in
By splinters and cuts and blood

May we know each other
My veins and your knots
Your flesh and my bone

As the ocean knows its trenches
Where darkness feels kinship
With every invisible slope