The business changes hands; accountants come To scrutinize the books and search the files. Disturbing rumours through the office hum: Mysterious, keen-eyed men stroll down the aisles. Department heads, whose places are in doubt, Pursue their duties with unworried faces, As if to say that if they are let out They know where they can go to better places. But Billingslea, a plodding under-clerk, Wonders if he is slated for discharge, And pales before the spectre Out of Work, And tries to make his occupation large. Night falls; desks close; his comrades homeward fare; He stays and toils in bribery to fate, Hoping approving glances come from where His god writes down: "Your pay will terminate----" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEXTER GORDON: COPENHAGEN/AVERY FISHER HALL by KAREN SWENSON THE RIVULET by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT AN INVITATION TO A DRINKFEST by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS SHE IS SO PRETTY by PIERRE JEAN DE BERANGER THE MATCH by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |