The prize

“You have the right to perform your actions but do not let the fruit be the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t be attached to not doing your duty.”

-Bhagwad GitaWhen I was young I was taught

To go on working without a thought

Wasted on the fruits of my labor

Fortune, I was told, would favor

Me if I could make a distinction

Between anticipated results and actions.

Why then can I not apply

This principle even though I try

Why can I not avert my eyes

From the distant gleaming prize?

Just focus on giving each job my best

Lay all expectations of outcomes to rest.

When did I acquire this greed,

How did the prize become a need?

Anticipation of results eroding slowly

Into my work imperceptibly

Sucking out of work all happiness

Making the journey so tedious

By focusing on the final destination,

That focus turning into an obsession.

***

A new vocation did I find

Complex enough to challenge my mind

With no definite end in sight

No temptation of a prize to fight

All I had was the work at hand

I plunged into it, my future unplanned

Rejuvenated, I discovered my passion

In bringing my arduous task to fruition.

My journey was suddenly satisfying

When for the prize I was not trying.

More happiness, though was in the wake,

When at the end, as icing on the cake

A huge prize I won as my reward

For toiling away and working hard!