Tools gathered, water can filled,
he drove to the distant rice fields,
the cotton fields. Lingered at their
borders, scouting helpers,
boys who wanted more
than pennies a day.
With his new crew,
he went to work, teaching,
taking time with the
most ambitious.
Hours in the sun,
side-by-side.
Framing, roofing, plumbing:
building a home a family could live in.
He was what he did,
and he was full with it.
It spilled into the men
who worked beside him,
day after long day.
And when he went home,
his ledgers counted
the price of labor, the cost
of every nail, every foot
of lumber.
All that was right
and all that was fair.