Sisyphus Thinks His Rock is Heavy

Sisyphus last week, Sisyphus this week, Sisyphus next week, too? That is how the pushing-the-rock-up-the-hill punishment goes, isn’t it? Just when you think it is over, it starts again. And Sisyphus can be a little self-pitying, when it comes right down to it. He thinks maybe he doesn’t deserve this punishment, focuses on how hard he has it, how his rock is so heavy. It’s hard to feel sorry for someone when they do a good job feeling sorry for themselves, right?

And what about all those other daily struggles, the rocks pushing up unseen hills–unseen because the hills are just so very common? What about those?

Well, maybe I am getting a bit sentimental here. Better just to move on to the poem. Sisyphus Thinks His Rock is Heavy was originally published in Marathon Literary Review, Issue 12, August, 2017.

Sisyphus Thinks His Rock is Heavy

Brags about the solid granite.
How his sweat and stretch
polish the stone. That endless
is his torment. As if forever
means more to him than to us.
As if he’d trade his burden
for mornings writing checks
our mothers can no longer sign,
or his ever upward effort for
their long downhill slides. Truth:
a coward loves his task. Loves.
Certainty, lacking any choice. Loves.
Never need explain, again, who he is.
Never face his father’s uncertain eyes.

If you enjoyed Sisyphus Thinks His Rock is Heavy

You can read more of my work on this blog or in the collection Stars Crawl Out From Their Caves, which is available in both ebook and print.

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I hope you have a good week this week. Look for another poem next Monday.

As always, comments welcome.