Dear sir, I write this note to you to tell you of my plight
For at the time of writing I am not a pretty sight
My body is all black and blue, my face a deathly grey
So I hope you understand why I am not at work today
While working on the fourteenth floor some bricks I had to clear
To throw them down from such a height seemed not a good idea
The foreman wasn't very pleased, him being an awful sod
He said I'd have to bring them down the ladder in my hod
But moving all those bricks by hand, it seemed so very slow
So I hoisted up a barrel and secured the rope below
But in my haste to do the job I was too blind to see
That a barrel full of building bricks was heavier than me
And so when I untied the rope the barrel dropped like lead
And clinging tightly to the rope, I started up instead
I shot up like a rocket but to my dismay I found
That halfway up I met the bloody barrel coming down
The barrel broke my shoulder as to the ground it sped
And when I reached the top I hit the pulley with me head
Still clinging tightly to the rope while stinging from this blow
The barrel dumped out half its bricks fourteen floors below
And when the bricks had fallen from the barrel to the floor
I now outweighed the barrel so I started down once more
Still clinging tightly to the rope, I landed on the ground
And landed on the broken bricks the barrel scattered 'round
While lying there upon the ground I thought I'd past the worst
But the barrel hit the pulley, and then the bottom burst
A shower of bricks rained down on me, I hadn't got a hope
As I lay there losing consciousness I let go the bloody rope
The barrel now being heavier, it started down once more
And it landed right upon me as I lay there on the floor
It broke two ribs and my left arm, that's all I've got to say
So I hope you understand why I am not at work today