On The Work of Men

Miracle of Pipes

They run beneath everything,
laid mainly by men
with families, sweating

joints in trenches dug,
some by hand. Once
in a while there's a burst

and those great grand-
children come and excavate
like plans also laid

that don't quite work out.
Not exactly foundations,
unless you count water

which we mainly are,
afterall, like the veins
of civilization at it's best

pumping something like blood
for the assembled starting,
at the tap,

another day in other trenches
drinking in infrastructure born
of tears and genius.