Friday
FRIDAY
Metro going home on Friday
Hell on wheels
Feet like lead and eyelids wilting
With weight of week’s work
Five interminable days
Of doing what the boss says
Every face in this train is like mine
I prop myself up to the door, close eyes
Sway in time with the train
Tracks suddenly change direction
Every soul staggers - an over- trained
Dance troupe well beyond rehearsal phase
At each station more worn faces forced
Into Faust’s bargain for youth again
Two days of rejuvenation,
Then the interminable five. Each station,
Each man, indistinguishable from the others,
As I am to them. At the end of the line,
Doors burst open. We trudge to the escalators.
Respite - we rise, pity ourselves,
Gaze unfocused at the floor,
Hunched over the moving rubber rail,
Adjusting grip every few seconds.
Rest one foot on the next step up,
One minute’s pause and eagerly
Look up to the surface lght -
Almost out of the pit
A prayer answered - “de profundis “
We’ve had enough,
We want to get home and shed the load,
Regenerate, renew contact with
Life above the grindstone pits.
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