Endurance (Rev.) 14.09.09 Poem by Margaret Alice

If my inspirational book is right about
everybody appreciating everything my
employer should be grateful for me sitting
here in 35 degrees, mind empty, spirit
broken, defenceless against the
allure of increasing temperature

Giving up the good fight, giving in to
temptation, being sinful and evil, doing
nothing, too tired to plague colleagues,
too hot to read or surf the Internet, maybe
catatonia is the objective so others can
work while I stare at the roof while I
must take my work home

Tonight when cool I shall concentrate
a heat wave from the superheated window
is burning my skin and searing my mind,
changing my thoughts into mush; I am tough,
I can die standing at my post, I just cannot
think when my cortex turns to Jell-O

My characters left ages ago, refusing to
entertain me in temperatures that are
deemed deadly by those in the know
why we should be forced to work in a
volcano I’ll never fathom, the only thing
left is to endure without bothering
the soldiers who suffer with me