The Rat Race

The nine to five
Meant to sustain for a whole life
What does it really mean?
This place that shines the glossy sheen.

Maybe it bought me nice clothes
If I am lucky it would stave off my woes
Pay all the bills that came like clockwork
It said my responsibilities I did not shirk.

I got up every day and I got dressed
My clothes all nice, neat, and pressed
Jaunted down the street with my head held high
Such self-worth as deemed by the external eye.

I was trying to do things the right way
The way most people spend their day
So when one job did not fit I’d get another
Surely I’m the one who has made the blunder.

I never knew differently, just thought I am a freak
Never understood why the heck I couldn’t be meek
Why did everyone else seem happy and content?
Yet here I am with my heartbreak left to ferment.

From one place to another till eventually I gave in
Thinking my lot wasn’t to be happy in my own skin
Do you know how hard I’d tried to fit in, to belong?
Instead, you told me I had been lazy all along.

Maybe before you tell me that I am lazy
Because I am not like you and my life is messy
I invite you to really look at me and see
Ask me for, and then please listen to my story.

No one knows why it feels like such a prison
When you don’t feel joy, the unexpected frisson
Each day blending into the other is so dull
Value and self-worth blanketed in an empty lull.

My heart and my soul longs for so much more
It has naught to do with having money galore
Inside me, I just crave fulfillment from joy
Our time is so precious, our worth is not a toy.

Photo by Quentin Keller on Unsplash

For more self-study, The Urban Howl recommends The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul.

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