Do It And Done

By Brady Gill

All through the town of Do it and Done

There was a good deal of work and very little fun

The townspeople there were all busy persuing

The best ways of doing things that needed doing.

And even if something was done very well

A cake was made prefect in look, taste and smell

A lawn was mowed quickly with every blade right

A painting so pretty, you’d cry at the sight

A leather bound book with solid gold letters

In Do it and Done

It could all be done better

And better they did everything that they did

Every parent surpassed by the skill of their kid

Every teacher just teaching their students so long

Before students were saying, “you’ve got it all wrong!”

Faster and better and better and faster

Never anything anyone shouldn’t have mastered

And with all this bettering, all of this fast

Did Do it and Done really think it would last?

On one sunny day, not a cloud in the sky

A soft breeze on the hills, from the town came a sigh

From grownups and children and all of the rest

Who all knew at once, that they’d all done their best

They put down their paper and pencil or tools.

The parents left work and the students ditched school

And into the street they stepped out so proud

But when they saw everyone else, fear swept through the crowd.

“If we’re all at our best. . .” said a man quite diminished

“Then we’re all like the rest,” he quietly finished.

At three twenty seven, the meeting bell rung

For the smartest and wisest of Do it and Done

To lock themselves up in the mayors big house

And ponder and think

And check and guess

And stay in the house till they solved this big mess.

And solve it they did, for after a week

The Mayor’s door opened and out with a creak

Stepped the smartest and wisest of Do it and Done

“There’s bettering left for us all,” he begun

“Everyone now must soon make a bond,

With somebody else who’s equally strong!

Someone as bright, and as smart, and as clever,

And by besting their best, you’ll surely get better!”

So off they all went with someone the same

Same muscle for moving

Same smartness of brain

And everything done was bested by the other

A girl’s pretty picture, bested by her brother

Well she bested him and he bested her

Till they screamed at each other

But their art was superb

Two builders were building two beautiful boats

“My Boat is the best,” they both did boast

When one builder built something that was new

The other would build the same thing but in twos

One sail became two

Two became four

And more

Till the best of their boats sank to the ocean’s floor.

A husband and wife who both loved to cook

Started stealing and hiding the recipe book.

“Delicious!” He called out in an unfriendly tone

To his wife, while he ate on the floor all alone.

The besting continued, but out of their hands

The besting escaped and went into the land

The first to start besting were the sea and the shore

Every wave the sea gave it reached out for more

But the shore would not give in to the sea’s demands

It held fast with towers and walls made of sand.

They battled and fought for who took up the most room

With tidal waves crashing on mountainous dunes.

Next were the trees and the air up above

The trees reaching up, but pushed down with shoves

The more the trees grew, the more the wind blew

On trees and the seas

And the townspeople too.

The Sun and the Moon held a race in the sky

Each side of it marked with a cloud finish lines

Each day the Sun was a little more fast

So everyday

Was shorter than the last

The Moon, who never turned down a fight

Leapt from star to star and shortened the night.

Faster and faster the days and nights flew

Older and older the townspeople grew

Their faces were stained with furrowing frowns

From cheering themselves while putting friends down

Their bodies were brittle and quite slow to heal

So busy in besting they forgot all their meals.

Locked in their rooms, standing apart

In besting the rest they hardened their hearts

And as their hearts hardened, the best stood alone

And Do it and Done was all turned to stone.

The Sun and the Moon stopped their race in the sky

The wind quit its gusting

The sea changed its tide.

And for the next year the stone statues stayed

A year full of resting the price to be paid

Time to be still, to think, to uncover

How to be great, but not hurt one and other

How to be giving, and caring, and kind

How to do all of that, and not fall behind

After a year in their stony cocoons

After Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter too

Slowly but surely the townspeople moved

And once they were moving, they knew what to do.

The women and men and all of the rest

Gave up on trying to be the best

Instead they took on a different approach

When one did their best, the rest gave a toast!

Rather than struggle to always be top

They’d show love from below as they pushed their friends up

Oh what a dream to work as a team

Together they worked and better it seemed

Because without a first, there’s never a worst

And if no one is best, then no one is less.

The brother and sister combined all their paint

Their art was so pretty it made their dad faint

The builders of boats shared all their tips

Made the boat of their dreams and set off on a trip

The husband with salt

His wife with the pepper

Through the seasons they seasoned their food together.

So it was that Do it and Done

Learned how to work and still have some fun

Side by side, they all live as friends

And that is how this story ends.