How easy to dismiss the five O’ clock alarm

and avoid by any means the next round of sentry duty,

how easy to roll your eyes, ignore the sound and keep calm

and once more doze in the arms of your chosen daily beauty?

How easy to dispense with the sound of a ticking bell,

the manipulative upstart of the daily uphill steep incline,

the kick starter which places you in Hell

and the sapper of strength, the dispenser of never ending decline?

How easy, I am never sure!

For in my toil I find that five O’clock

is just another hour in which to spend

being awake, chronic pain, for the alarm, the true cure,

of never hearing that sound between the tick and the tock

for Time has no meaning when tablets smile and offer an end.

Ian D. Hall 2015