–Anonymous
I saw them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in this busy town;
With a ho-heave-ho and a mighty yell,
They swung a beam and the side wall fell.
I asked the foreman: “Are these men skilled?
Like the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He said with a laugh, “No indeed–
Common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What it has taken a builder ten years to do.”
I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I the builder who builds with care,
Measuring life with rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan,
Carefully doing the best I can–
Or am I the wrecker who walks the town
Content with the labor of tearing down?