Baleful Moon

Funny, but no one uses “bale,”

Except when talking

About cotton or hay,

Just "baleful," and the moon’s full

Tonight, but not full

Of bale, just full

Of an ominous glow

On the black velvet sky

And my mind throbs

With baleful thoughts

Of where on earth I’ll find

the rent money.

Labor

is manual

and intensive,

is stoop

and slave,

is ennobling

and degrading,

is mental

and delicate,

is skilled

and crude,

is cursed

and blessed,

is essential

and scarce.

God, give

us work.

George Held blogs atwww.georgeheld.blogspot.com. He has a few friends on Facebook.

A five-time Pushcart nominee, George Held publishes widely online and in print. His most recent books (both 2011) are AFTER SHAKESPEARE: SELECTED SONNETS and NEIGHBORS, a children's book of animal poems, illustrated by Joung Un Kim.