Axel Jungstedt, Swedish
Not What I Thought You Meant When You Said You Were Taking Me To See the Stones, 1888
Oil on canvas
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“I think they take us for granite, Axel !”
Info, or links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here and here (Google translated), perhaps in addition to his Wikipedia page (Google translated Swedish Wikipedia page may have more).
/// These Stone Workers don’t get any glory,
unlike sculptors, whose work tells a story.
They chop stone into blocks.
Where do they seek these rocks?
They must search until they find their quarry.
/// Each man chisels at stone ‘til he knocks off
when the sun sets, then he takes his socks off.
He drops into his bed.
Thoughts of work fill his head.
He dreams fitfully— getting his rocks off.
/// This one stone worker loudly inveighed
‘gainst the bosses. He felt they’d betrayed
workers, whom they would chasten.
Told them “You’re a Freemason.”
But they meant “Though you carve— you’re unpaid.”
/// For these men there is no good prognosis.
Coughs and chest pain formed their diagnosis.
Unmasked stone cutters must
inhale years worth of dust.
There’s no cure for severe silicosis.
/// “I was just your age when I’d begun
as apprentice, and second to none.
You’re now six; give up fun.
All these rocks weigh a ton.
You’re a chip off the old block, my son.”
/// The new stone worker lunched with a group
who were stirring a kettle of goop.
They mixed pebbles and sand
and then turned to demand
he add his veggies to their stone soup.
/// They are chiseling large calcite rocks
into setts which they place in a box.
If they split open stones
and find fossilized bones
they discard them; they’re here to make blocks.
/// Joakim Bjorn, (also called J.B.),
quarried six days a week. Wife said, “Maybe,
since with rocks you do best,
Sundays, give me a rest.
While I nap, why don’t you rock the baby?”