I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,

Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.
Jessie Belle Rittenhouse Scollard (1869–1948)