Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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38 One for Sorrow
1
I’ve heard it said that the road to joy,
Is often paved with sorrow,
Perhaps it is a natural thing,
Comparing yesterday with tomorrow.
2
That thinking puts us in the middle,
Putting today always in the way,
And reminds me of a time in the Army,
They called it “Service Day.”
3
It was a one-day break in training,
The DI’s put us all in line,
And gave us our work assignments,
Basic Training in sixty-nine,
4
Seven of us got the assignment,
To police up the latrine at the gym,
Six of us were happy,
But one guy said the job was not for him.
5
“What? Are you crazy,”
We went on to explain,
We would be free and unsupervised,
It was a cheat code to the game.
6
We could raid the vending machines,
And check out the pool room down the hall,
Maybe shoot some baskets,
If we can find a basketball.
7
We policed the latrine in minutes,
Then goofed off all day,
Dodging all DI supervision,
Maybe service day was designed that way.