Dead Day at the Office

In between Christmas and New Year

the office is open for what

management assure the staff

is a normal working day.

 

Those who have not saved 

enough holidays, or have to come in

to cover for those who have booked

Christmas off first, 

trudge into the office, feeling as festive

as a broken clock.

 

The clock on the wall seems stuck

at ten to eleven

and we're all here until 

four.

Drinking cups of tea,

checking empty email inboxes

for new messages and to answer

telephones that are not ringing.

 

All office conversation and small-talk

has been exhausted.

We all know who has had a good

Christmas, who got roaring drunk

on Boxing Day, who had a cold

all over the holidays,

who burnt the turkey.

Nothing to do and

nothing to say and

four hours left of our shift.

 

The rest of the world will not return

to normal until next week.

But we are here.

But we are here.