Nurture the Lion

The repulsive radiance of

Monitors

Monitored by IT to keep

You on

The treadmill.

They pay you

The same

Every

Calendar time.

They task you with

Distance

But hold you to

Minutes

King Solomon

Would be proud

To keep myself

There

I would have to

Cut out a part

Of myself

But I showed

I was

My own

Owner

We agreed on

The race

But

They assumed that

My pace

Wouldn’t knock over

The pyramid

Of sand

Before it was time

Just pretend to

Be

Busy

Like all the rest

But I wouldn’t

Trade myself in

I tried staying

In the chair

To stare

At

That glare

Feeling as my ancestors did

When

In the presence of a starving lion

You can’t placate it

With anything but food

The lion in me

Fed on purpose

And

Sunlight in the pupils.