Labor Day

From The Tacoma Times, August 30, 1913. By Berton Braley.

It’s time to be finished with playing
    It’s time to pick up and go home
We’re done with our loafing and straying
    On mountain top, meadow or foam;
We’ve got to get back to our labor
    And mix with the workaday mob,
The summer time’s over with, neighbor
    It’s time to get back to the job.

This day is the last of our heyday
    It marks our last fling for the year,
And now we’ll look forward to payday
    And know that the autumn time’s here;
For Labor Day’s rightly named, neighbor,
    It signals Tom, Harry and Bob,
That it’s time to go back to their labor
    It’s time to get back on the job!

The season of loafing is over
    The season of languor is done
We’ve got to quit lying in clover
    And get back to work on the run.
And though we may question it, neighbor,
    And though we may blubber and sob,
We’re pleased at the summons to labor,
    We’re glad to get back on the job!