The business changes hands; accountants come To scrutinize the books and search the files. Disturbing rumours through the office hum: Mysterious, keen-eyed men stroll down the aisles. Department heads, whose places are in doubt, Pursue their duties with unworried faces, As if to say that if they are let out They know where they can go to better places. But Billingslea, a plodding under-clerk, Wonders if he is slated for discharge, And pales before the spectre Out of Work, And tries to make his occupation large. Night falls; desks close; his comrades homeward fare; He stays and toils in bribery to fate, Hoping approving glances come from where His god writes down: "Your pay will terminate----" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHARGE AT SANTIAGO by WILLIAM HAMILTON HAYNE TO LUCASTA, [ON] GOING TO THE WARS by RICHARD LOVELACE THE RAINBOW [IN THE SKY] by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH CLOUDS by EDUARD VON BAUERNFELD SHE WOULD NOT KNOW ME by THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY A SONG OF PITCAIRN'S ISLAND by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |