When I am alone I am happy.
The air is cool. The sky is
flecked and splashed and wound
with color. The crimson phalloi
of the sassafras leaves
hang crowded before me
in shoals on the heavy branches.
When I reach my doorstep
I am greeted by
the happy shrieks of my children
and my heart sinks.
I am crushed
Are not my children as dear to me
as falling leaves or
most one become stupid
to grow older?
It seems much as if Sorrow
had tripped up my heels.
Let us see, let us see!
What did I plan to say to her
when it should happen to me
as it has happened now?

--William Carlos Williams

Randy, silently, crept by the man on his way to his destination on the other side of the room. He didn't know what the man's name was but he had seen him before in other areas of the building. He entered the partition and sat down to begin his work.

But the other man was a problem. Randy had to wait for him to finish what he was doing in the room before he could truly begin his. For Randy was operating in secret. Nobody else could know what he was about to do. The world had to be utterly blind to the terrible thing he was about to unleash upon it. After Randy and the man were both gone, others might encounter the evidence of the event that had taken place, but then it wouldn't matter.

Randy sighed as silently as he could as he listened to the sounds of the other man performing his task, maddeningly slow. He put his face in his hands, trying to will the man to speed up. Randy had patience, maybe more than most people he knew, but even he was about to run out as the other man drew out his task longer and longer and longer...

"Should I kill him?" Randy thought. No, that wasn't the answer. That would draw too much attention, something he was trying to avoid.

Randy debated back and forth in his mind the prospect of not waiting any longer, of just doing it. Would it be so bad if the man knew, or found out? But maybe if Randy could just wait a little longer, the debate wouldn't be needed. Surely the man was almost done?

Randy began to sweat as it seemed as if the man was finally done. But the man's slow, clicking footsteps as he milled about almost drove Randy to the edge.

"Come on!!" Randy thought. How much longer could this go on?

Just when Randy was about to be entirely depleted of patience, he heard the sweet sound of the man departing the room.

Finally, the waiting was over!

PPHHHHHUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-T!!!!PHHHHBBBBBTTTTTT-PBBTTTTTT-BBBBBTTTTT!!!!

Relief, emanating from his lower abdomen, washed over his entire body in a cool, invisible glow of pure goodness.

"Oh god!" Randy said out loud, his voice echoing off the walls of the stall and the men's bathroom, "I thought that dude would never finish washing his goddamn hands!!"

I am waiting for the world to end
    not a rain of fire
        but the birth of thinking
            of selflessness and caring
                to rise up and displace
                    the thinking of the past.
                    the “Greed is Good” mentality.
                    the trickle-down economy.
                    the thoughts of millions:
                        “what’s in it for me?”

I am waiting for people to realise
    that they don’t need to claim benefit
        from every sacrifice they make.
        from every erg of effort expended.
    that people are people
        who have hopes and dreams too.
        who can be helped by an action
            rather than lazing around.
    that they should try to keep moving forward
        rather than stagnating
            in whatever sub-heaven they think
                they’re in.

I am waiting for society to evolve
    to put achievement over entertainment.
    to put people over profit.
    to make a world not based
        off work.
        off others’ suffering.
        off environmental destruction.
        off a consumerist culture
            that drives the wheel of business
            careless of sustainability
    to work for all, not one.

I am waiting for the world to be reborn
    self-drawn to achievement.
    with no waste
        or sloth.
        or greed.

I am waiting for the world to change
    But that’s all I’m doing:
        Waiting.

Wait"ing,

a. & n. from Wait, v.

In waiting, in attendance; as, lords in waiting. [Eng.] -- Waiting gentlewoman, a woman who waits upon a person of rank. -- Waiting maid, Waiting woman, a maid or woman who waits upon another as a personal servant.

 

© Webster 1913.

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