ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

My good friend Brad, who I think I have known forever, or at least most of the time I have been stationed in Germany sent me the following – written in one of those interminable staff meetings that the Pentagon is famous for. With his permission.

With apologies to E. A. Poe, Esq. -  Brad Harper -

Once upon a staff call dreary
While I sat there, weak and weary
As were discussed things which had been discussed
A multitude of times before

As I sat there, nearly napping
Suddenly there came a clapping
Like the sound of waves a-lapping
‘pon some far and pleasant shore

‘Tis the ending of the meeting!
That for which I’d so yearned for!
But no, ’twas but the 3rd of 30 briefers
Sitting down, and nothing more

Like the Red Queen, ever sprinting
No matter how hard we onwards bore
At the end of all our labors
No more closer, than before

As a swimmer ever striving
T’wards some near enticing shore
The tide would ceaslessly pull backwards
No more closer than before

Will this torment be unending?
why is every brief a bore?
Is my sentence so unbending.
I am not allowed to snore?

When at last the meeting’s ended
Headlong rush I out the door
But even as I flee, a’gowning
There is a future dread that’s sure

For my glee so freshly minted
“tis but the fleeting joy D’Jour
In two weeks my fate decrees that
I’ll be back again, for more

(and please give Brad Harper credit and link back to here – if you quote, etc, his excellent take off on The Raven)