man- employment

Man-employment

On the way to the bank this morning
four workers were shuffling pebbles into big buckets
carrying the load down some steps
coming up with empty buckets, filling them up again.
They had sweat on their brows; one hoped they made
enough money for the daily bread.
I may have worked long hours in my life, but
not like this, lifting and carrying heavy objects, and I take it they were low-paid
It seems to me people who perform physical
work is low-paid and insecure work
the first to be laid off and end up sleeping in the street,
They are the people we despise
But without them, the world would come to a standstill
yet we pay them a few miserable coins left in our pockets when we change our trousers.