Rat a tat whack. <br />Click click clack. <br />Gurgle gurgle boil, <br />Splat splash splat. <br /> <br />When I was just a young lad <br />My Dad put me to work. <br />I loved that he trusted me, <br />But some called him a jerk. <br /> <br />After school I had to <br />Go work on a roof. <br />My baby brother Dan <br />Would joke and sometimes goof. <br /> <br />When Danny got some older <br />His hammer would really shine. <br />With tools used for construction <br />His were better than mine. <br /> <br />But since I was much stronger <br />I would lift the heavy loads, <br />Carrying buckets of tar up ladders, <br />And shingles from the road. <br /> <br />Then I would shovel gravel <br />From a flat bed to the roof. <br />Dad always did hot mopping, <br />A cigarette held by tooth. <br /> <br />A hundred pounds a package <br />Of each asphalt keg I'd lift, <br />And set it gently in the tar pot <br />And that strength was a gift. <br /> <br />My muscles were bulging, <br />Friends didn't mess with me. <br />Any fights I was ever in <br />All ended so quickly. <br /> <br />The biggest fight I was ever in <br />Would happen at my house. <br />Peeling black tar from my shoes, <br />And at laundry I was a louse! <br /> <br />My mamma would take over <br />And sometimes she would rant, <br />For there was always more tar <br />On me than on my pants.<br /><br />Robert Edgar Burns<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-roofers-symphony/
