"It" and "They"

It gets harder out here every day.
It gets more clever then I am.
Seems by the second I am loosing,
but the ground keeps coming,
like some torturous treadmill.

My dreams seem just beyond me.
Is this just a carrot?
Some unseen entity driving me?

What is worth caring for in this climate?
I am willing to do the work.
Fair work for fair pay.
That is predicated on myriad stipulations.
Subject to change as the situation makes itself more clear.
But there is no hope here.
That much is held dear by the stick holder and the string tyer.

I will wait until the perfect hold appears before me,
rather than making due with what I have.
I would rather stay in the hole than settle for a weak hold.
That is the power of an unseen entity that probably only exists in my mind.
But that existence is enough.
Isn't it?