estranged labour

each morning i shut myself off from the world
on the train i read and listen to my music
i do not worry about all the things happening around me
the people going about their regular occasions

others do the same making themselves into islands
separate from the rest each in their own little kingdom
taking this moment of peace before they have to face duty
breathing an air far from the polluted space

that we are all in each of us in our own private dreamtime
isolate facing the fact that we do not know our neighbours
really that does not matter as we read and listen and think
long is the day ahead and long will we wish to be elsewhere

somewhere up in the mountains or on a warm tropical seaside
instead we face the same walls the same tiring old situations
vacant each day grow our minds as we slide on our work-masks
and the dark bird caws unheard in all the wilderness

but for now i am still in my kingdom far from the place where my body
moves closer and closer to workplace and to the regular service
time later for rest time later for family that is the wish and the hope
as the walls close in around us and we turn without thought to our duties