Coffee on the Rocks - Carl Hauck

A voice you used to love that you've grown to hate
Breaks dawn's silence with its cheery strain
The rising steam carries heavy dreams away
As sweat and tears flow softly down the drain
They'll be back tonight in the same place
Amongst a maze of cubicles you see
The ebb and flow of worker bees
With name and rank written on their sleeves
The bulletins and answering machines
Just spew out syllables endlessly
Phantom collar soaked in rain
Strident tweeter whistling more of the same
A crescent lamp above an empty lane
Put the heartless clock and chopping block away
They don't let you breathe the same or so they say
Off with corks and caps and tabs and tops
Bottoms up drink till you drop
The neon glows as the busboy mops
Up the ghostly remnants of earlier today
But the marks you left are here here to stay