No-One Will Know

*
Crash, and my chairback snaps forwards
and I’ve had enough, yesterday I fell into
temptation and ate the food of life, humble
slices of bread, now I am paying the price

I’m sick of being allergic, always having to
hunt for special food in order to remain up-
right, backache is pulling me down, I will
not confess to my colleagues

I want to fight in the trenches with them, fight
against mountains of paperwork and prolife-
rating lists, I stopped speaking this morning
saving my little energy for doing my job

Now I give up, I cannot fight against myself
looking at words with my head full of hammers
beating against my temples, I carry my cross
in silence, I shall never catch up but

I am giving my all, I will remain at my post, carry
on at snail’s pace, fighting the urge to lie down in
defeat, grandma Alice would never have given up
and I shall follow her beautiful example, I shall be

Cinderella of the office today, just good enough to
do basic work like cleaning language grates from
ashes of wrongly applied words, hiding my dis-
comfort and despair so no-one will know
*