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Hard Work

What is hard work?
Is it the burning of the midnight candle?
Is it the sacrifice of life's pleasures 
for a goal deemed worthy?
Or as Ali said,
suffering now to live like a champion later?

I thought I knew what it was.
I thought I had tasted its bitterness.
Until they reached down and grabbed the bar
And set it so high it disappeared behind the clouds.

Now I preach from the ground,
of the pleasures of being rooted to the Earth.
Though I suspect it is but a fear
to keep me from striving for the limits of the sky.

Will I ever dare to take on the suffering and the pain
and live to enjoy the fruits of toil?
Will I ever know
What is hard work? 

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