Author - Eric John
Submitted By -Want To Be
"Want to be in the line crew?"
I said, I don't know
"You can make some good money at it"
"I'm ready to sign, where do I go"
"What do I have to do?" I said
They smirked and gave me a pat
"Not too much if you pay attention,
You'll get the hang of it"
"Are you scared of heights?"
I told them a lie
"Are you scared of electricity?"
"Hell no", I said, "Why?
I spent the next six months in a muddy damn hole
The next six months at the bottom of a pole
They finally put me, in a set of old hooks
My first attempt at climbing was one for the books
"Keep your knees away from the pole,"
"And don't look down!"
I was scareder than Billy Ray Hell
I was three feet off the ground
"Get up that damn pole"
Your movin' too frickin' slow"
"There's allot about this line work, Kid,"
You still don't know!"
"You ain't worked long enough"
"To call yourself tired!"
"If you don't' tighten your ass up"
"By God you're fired!"
This sure wasn't what I expected
I'd just about had enough
I thought I could work hard
I thought I was tough
But these old hands
Who had worked and got it done
Made me look soft
They were tougher than any one
Then it happened all of the sudden
On the top of a 65
Just me and an old lineman
In the middle of the night
From the top of that pole
Over the town he looked
He took a deep breath
And shifted in his hooks
"You see that Kid?"
He pointed to the lights
"We did that,"
"And we did it right."
"There's babies out there,"
"Sleepin' warm in their beds,"
"Security lights burnin'"
"To keep the old folks from being scared."
"There's stop lights and cross walks,"
"And TV's to enjoy."
"Showin' football games and cartoons,"
"For the little girls and boys."
He looked at me then
As his words sunk in
"Do you understand, Kid?"
"Do you get what I'm sayin'?"
"You gotta be tough,"
"And you gotta know your trade."
"There's people out there counting on you."
"So you've gotta make the grade."
"Anything less"
"And it ain't you hurts."
"It's them babies and old folks."
"If you can't do the work.
"This job is tough"
"And it will damn sure kill you"
"There ain't allot of credit"
"And damn few thank yous"
But not many can do it"
"Once they find what it's about"
"If you ain't got the heart for it"
"You'll have to get out."
"You got what it takes"
"And we'll push you no more"
"Now it's up to you"
"If you want to take on the chore"
So as he climbed down the pole
I thought about his words
A lineman I wanted to be
A lineman for sure
Eric John '02