My Wage

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.

By Jessie Belle Rittenhouse (1869–1948)

Featured in “Think and grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill