Prayer during work

(with apology to Louis MacNeice and to corporate set-ups the world over, but mostly to Louis MacNeice)

Jaco Fouché

I am not yet done; O hear me.
Let not the bean-counting bat or the file-laden sportsman or the gloating oaf or the merciless assistant come near me.

Keep from me the evil-tempered manager and the bespectacled secretary
Peering around the door, gauging his mood
Keep from me the earnest graduate who lapses into jargon
With the determined joy of a tourist working her way through a phrase-book
Keep from me the independent analyst who files his Financial Mails
And lubricates his dark chuckles with company coffee and kiosk food

I am not yet done; O bear with me
As the mainframe drags its heels and the phone peeps "Call waiting" and my hobby-driven colleague insists on tea

Keep from me the buzzing queue in the cafeteria
On steak or sweet-potato day
Keep from me the smoke-breaks and the populated strolls
Down to the company gardens or out onto the deck
Keep from me the fine-mesh net that closes slowly:
"This guy. I don't know. He's not a team man"

I am not yet done; O dread with me
The all-nighter and grimly jovial middle management and in each cubicle
the unblemished plastic tree

Keep from me the low rumours of rationalization and downsizing
Keep from me the thoughtful gaze of my superiors
Keep from me the callous backhand of the promotion player

And when I am done, O walk with me
One final time down the long corridor where I will fear no admin and I will see the pale new dawn in sub-contracting for a fee

LitNet: 26 November 2004

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