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LIFTERS AND LEANER

There are two kinds of people on earth today,

Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man’s wealth

You must first know the state of his conscience and health.

Not the humble and proud, for in life’s little span,

Who puts on airs is not counted a man,

Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years

Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.

No, the two kinds of people on earth I mean

Are the people who lift and the people who lean.

Wherever you go you will find the world’s masses

Are always divided in just these two, classes;

And oddly enough you will find, too, I wean,

There’s only one lifter to twenty who lean.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load

Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?

Or are you a leaner who lets others bear

Your portion of labor and worry and care? - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Sourcebook of Poetry, Al Bryant, page 706