of work and home, and inertia

 

Sisyphus & Us

the pandemic has knocked our world akilter,

so that home and work

merge into each other,

and neither knows itself well,

the going has gotten tough,

and some of us just can’t get going,

inertia locks the wheels,

the story of Sisyphus slaps us with its truth,

the rock rolls back down the hill,

and we don’t want to deal with it:

another assignment needs to be done,

another student needs us to be there for them,

another step forward is harder and harder

for us and for the child,

physics warns us that objects tend

to remain as they are unless acted upon,

as a teacher I have wonderful students who are stymied,

and it’s tough for them to get going,

those rocks won’t get back up the hill on their own,

and the steps forward seem too hard,

we need some action to intervene,

yet what we need to do hides from us,

I see the rock,

and I feel for every Sisyphus

who knows they should push it up the hill,

and just can’t, for now.

by Henry H. Walker

May 18, ‘21