Corporate Angst

Some Bosses are fickle
It’s like too much salt in your pickle
Others are bullies
It’s like hot summers and turtle-neck woollies

Some Peers are vultures
It’s like stale yoghurt with cultures
Others crave your shiny shoes
It’s like sipping cocktails with cheap brews

Some Enablers are befuddled Ablers
It’s like pins missing from staplers
Others are cud-chewing cattle
It’s like a gum-stuck-to-shoe battle

Thus Regular Guileless Employees
Who dream of exotic vacations in Hawaii
Transform into Alien Mutants
That yearn for nothing but intoxicating coolants

©DarshanaKalyanpur2015

Achilles; Almost

He practiced his smile every morning
The bathroom mirror told him he was ‘good looking’
He knew his charm was meant to woo
The girls, the Boss, and all the ‘Somebodys’ in his sphere

He ignored the slight shivers he felt
The way the floor moved when he stood up
The cold sweats that woke him up at night

He tried to forget the tick-tock sounds of the clock
From another day another time
When tearing sobs broke the silence of the night
His helplessness to fathom failure in a life that was hard-won

The bottle of pills stood testimony
To a soul that filled with sadness
To a mind that sparkled with intellect
To a spirit that refused to be crushed
To a life he knows he must live

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder
And looked into the eyes of this wonderful woman
She was his Wife and the mother of his Child

He straightened his tie
And headed out into the world
He was born to conquer.

Amour Propre

You saw her every day
That girl with the secret smile
A spring in her step and a twinkle in her eyes
Her long black mane, and her happy laugh
Seemed to present to you an irresistible challenge

So you turned on your sunshine charm,
You courted her and you wooed her
You won your trophy
And she became just yours…no one else’s

She made your heart sing
She was in love and knew how to show it
But every time you looked at her

You wondered if … you could ever be worthy?

The smiling stopped and so did the singing
Her eyes bore a distant look
As if looking at a life … that might have been

She had a laugh that made you feel
She knew something you didn’t
She knows the scars will fade
But she must walk away so her heart can heal

Your charm is gone and you feel so alone
She never seems to leave your thoughts
And you try so hard ….every single day

When you see that girl with a twinkle in her eyes
And hear her happy laugh

Please believe ….you truly are worthy.

Shackles of Freedom

A cloying sweetness that binds you to itself
And leaves you with a sense of void
Your soul cries out in silent desperation
‘Please … I need to be free’

You want to listen, and you almost do
Hush ..say no more, lest they hear.. for they must not
Because, to be truly free means to barter away
your life, your calling, your big dream, your pound of flesh

And so the sickly sweet non-existence spews out
one Monday at a time, one ‘deadline’ at a time

All you want to do is sit by the ocean
Watching the sun set
The warm breeze in your hair
The sand beneath your feet

Yet what you really see
Is that tiny crab burrowing back into its hole
While your soul gently whispers
‘O mirror, mirror on the wall, who am I?’