He landed in construction after school.
His liberal arts degree led to no chair.
He’d learned to use most any kind of tool
from summer jobs encountered everywhere.
The labor exercised his arms and mood.
His skills advanced with every passing year.
And years did pass – his prime time was accrued
by hours grown to decades in that sphere.

Preferring self-employment, he postponed
the plans that can amount. His strategy
still-born was wreathed in tactics, as he honed
old habits. Now the man is 53,
and seems to focus only with hindsight.
Although, you know, he always meant to write.