The boss barks out another order

Every head drops to the floor

But one man looks out of the window

At his old school yard once more

Michael is that you lad?

I ain't seen you in years

I loved the latest play of yours

It was like music to my ears

All the kids you knew at school

Are stuck in jobs that they detest

Still answering questions with their hands raised

No longer thinking they are the best

Mortgaged to the eyeballs

In the governmental plan

Enforced identity crisis

In the classroom it began

There must be another way they say

Watching him as he goes

Smiling through the town he left behind

For the life that he now knows.

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Copyright © 2007 Matthew P. Nicholson