I have worked with several people
that have spent most of their lives
behind a broad desk
seated in a comfortable leather chair
with an undisputable air of casual ease about them
that most would most certainly consider enviable
as now even deep into their forties
they bear the faces of children
so much that even I standing beside them
look like an old gnarled lizard
that has been lying in the desert sun unmolested
for centuries.

They have faces that have never been
hit, never drowned in tears or spit upon
and because of that small things
seem to confound them as they chatter on
endlessly inside of their snow globes
about their driveways, diets and
personal trainers as they compare watches
and morning routines.

They have never had to worry about
their car not starting on the way to
a job interview that would decide
if they were going to eat
for the next month.

They have never lost a fight
because they have never been in one.

They have never had to steal
condiments from restaurants
or duct tape their shoes
never had to bang on somebody’s door
with a bat for mishandling their ex
or muscle their way into a room
full of strangers to settle a score.

They have never had to be animals
not like us.

I used to think that they were lucky
oh, so lucky to not have to endure
life’s harsher climates
but now as I see them standing
lost at the photocopier
face painted with unusual concern
not knowing what to do
because nothing’s coming out

I just think that they’re pathetic
and for good reason.