The Taking or the Giving

Some rivers come in pounding streams,
Some in ocean's calm
Some hurts are torture of the soul,
Others nature's balm

Yet as I sit here, thinking hard,
I cannot recall
A time when your grand plots
Had no less a grand pitfall.

You seek to circumvent the system,
You seek to have it all.
You want no sweat to touch your brow,
No reason to stand tall.

Yet with no purpose to sustain you,
No line for you to draw,
You take no pride in what you gain,
Nor joy in what you saw.

There is no peace without the war,
No joy without the labor.
Without the grain to feed your cattle,
Their meat you cannot savor.

So dream your dreams of get-rich schemes
While I work for my living
And in the end we'll see what profits most:
The taking or the giving.