Welcome to the Mine (prompt: Welcome Poem)

You need to be prepared

to outwit the frustration

work past buckets of sweat

and mostly persevere.

We miners

tinker ceaselessly  

blessed infrequently with

a sliver

a sparkle.

Some days there is

so much to harvest

and sometimes it’s a glint

and that’s all you’re gonna  get.

When you don that prospector’s helmet

and dive deep into the mineshaft

where it’s dark and spooky,

remember, it’s a numbers game

and sometimes

all you’ll have to show for your work

is yesterday’s dust.

You gotta like the digging,

the challenge of breaking rock,

disrupting the Earth

and finding something new.

So, welcome,

now pick up

your pencil

and get at it.