Men and Women The Man from Porlock

The Man from Porlock

A stop was put to Kubla Khan

by a man on business from Porlock.

When the poet took his pen to start again,

the thoughts had dried

and the words were there no more.

It’s easy to identify

the men from Porlock and their like,

and to take the requisite action.

Our obstacles we rise and meet,

for heroism is everywhere.

We can clear the boulders in our way.

What’s hard is the gravel of every day.

The waking up and wondering how

to do the jobs that are queuing now.

The hard thing is the common chore,

the “getting and spending that lay waste our powers”

to use the phrase of his friend,

that dread dead time from 3 to 4,

when the day appears to have no end,

with a rosary of things to do,

but the will is there no more.