Uptight people all around me,
When was the last time you breathed?
That file needs completing today,
Are you already getting peeved?
That paper craves writing,
That order delivered now,
That code run by the evening,
You can scream within your mouth.
Wrap your tasks or the dawn breaks,
That lengthy project before you moan,
Transfer the money by tomorrow,
Why do you have to groan?
Sign off the deal by five,
Send that E-mail by seven,
Always go by the book
So you might end up in heaven.
Time and tide and other cliches,
They still don’t wait for anyone,
Listen to that grain of sand fall
Hasn’t it only just begun?
Stare at the screen for too long,
Let your eyes weep pain,
Don’t you dare shut your world down,
You are yet to go insane.
Oh, were you trying to be comfortable?
Here, have tomorrow’s tasks,
You can try to look a little happy now,
Everyone is wearing their masks.
And that new guy over there,
Can’t wait to live your life,
He thinks you are miserable as hell
For not enjoying the afterlife.
Don’t stretch on your seat just yet,
Stretch your hours of work
To finish that job you just got,
Better wipe off that smirk!
Ask your boss to hold your leash
Tighter than it was,
So you never try to see beyond
The system and its laws.
Sit down on your desk for hours,
Let them turn into days,
The weekend is right there in the corner,
What makes you so afraid?
Does it really get over so quickly,
When you stay up so late?
But nothing remains forever,
Why does it bother you mate?
Don’t you get that free coffee,
Which doesn’t taste so great?
Have as many as you like,
The drudgery can barely wait
To see you back at the office,
Like clockwork in your head,
Don’t miss a day and do nothing,
You might think of times ahead,
Or of the age you slaved away,
Reading nothing between the lines
Of pages you never liked,
Toiling in the alcoves of mines,
Where all your hopes came to die,
Smothered by your own deed
And you never really stopped to think –
What was really the need
To push your body and mind over
Someone else’s dream,
While the person in you kept crying,
Couldn’t you hear your own scream?