THIRD SHIFT WOES (TRIBULATIONS OF A YOUNG NURSE)
Once upon a midnight dreary, as he filled out (while so weary)
All the multitudinous forms which he deplores,
Suddenly there came a tapping, then a sharp tongue loudly flapping.
Had she caught him nearly napping? ’Twas his super at the door!
Only she and no one more.
Oh, how well does he remember from September to September
How she does on him unlimber, as a woodsman shouting “TIMBER!”
Falling trees in bleak December like you’d never heard before,
And the fact he DOES remember.
She’ll be with them evermore.
Super, thought he, thing of evil, useless as the vile boll weevil,
Noisome as Evel Kneval, tough as knights in days of yore,
Will you please just leave him, for your presence, it doesn’t grieve him.
Will this tyrant e’er befriend him?
She’ll be with them evermore.
“Make those beds and be speedy, get a move on, do your duty,
Or you’ll never work again in our employ.”
Oh, if he could only tell her what he thinks of her endeavor
To become another Hitler, thus inflicting pain, not joy.
She’ll be with them evermore.
And his super still is standing by the door, her tongue still flapping
Saying he should be recanting all the things he’d said before.
Oh, he’ll ever be bemoaning in his soul he shall be groaning,
But he’ll NEVER be atoning,
Though she’s with them evermore.
written 1999
