Token No.550

By Lynn Ockersz

‘Enough is enough’,

The silent sufferer tells himself,

Clutching his worn-out token number to his breast;

‘Today there’s no turning back,

Until I get this jab of life’,

He mumbles as he joins fellow toilers,

All withered and frail,

In a winding queue for a third day;

But how could he stand up,

To the uniformed gentry at the gates,

As into a loudspeaker they bullyingly bray,

As the long day turns into another night desolate:

‘Go home and come another day;

Because jab stocks have come to an end;

And don’t you dare protest,

Unless you want to spend the rest of your days,

In a cold cell, enjoying at leisure,

The fast-thickening peace,

The graveyard over the fence efficiently generates.’