My Wage

We may as well aim high as low, ask much as little. The world will not miss what it gives us, and our reward will largely be governed by our demands.

I bargained with Life for a penny,
  And Life would pay no more,
  However I begged at evening
  When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is a just employer,
  He gives you what you ask,
  But once you have set the wages,
  Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
  Only to learn, dismayed,
  That any wage I had asked of Life,
  Life would have paid.

Jessie B. Rittenhouse.

From “The Door of Dreams.”