Sleep, my dear baby, sleep
The night is dark and deep
If you refuse to shut your eyes
The corporate monster will a-rise

What will he do to me?

Oh he is evil and he has his evil ways
He’ll pick you up and send you off
To study in a local school
Where you’ll find yourself surrounded
By other hapless kids of your age

He’ll pressurise you to wake up early
He’ll pressurise you to study hard
He’ll pressurise you to be disciplined
He’ll pressurise you to grow up

So that you may get good grades
And constantly compare yourself with other kids
So that you may get into a good college
And take on a huge debt to study
So that you may get a good internship
And be paid nothing for your work
So that you may get a good job
And finally start to pay off the debt
So that you may find a good partner
And average out your miseries
So that you may afford a good house
And take on another debt for it
So that you may have a good career
And have no time for fun or family
So that you may have a good retirement
And have lots of money but no time or energy

By all means stay awake
If that is your kind of thing
But if you want to avoid it all
And not end up like me
Quit your frolic
Start counting sheep
Sleep, my dear baby, sleep

Everything was going well
For five straight minutes
Everyone was talking about
The agenda and the conversation
Hadn’t drifted towards irrelevance

Until one smart lass decided
To ruin the peace and blurt out
A suggestion which by no
Ordinary sense can be said to
Be good, useful or even worth listening to

“Maybe it would be better
If we hire an external agency
To conduct a thorough examination
Of this process to identify any
Outliers that we may have missed”

A few heads turned, some nodded
In agreement while most wanted to
Lash out at her for wasting everyone’s
Time with her absolutely garbage
Piece of suggestion

Naturally her boss commended her
Remark and added his two cents to it
A snowball had been rolled
Down a mountain
An avalanche was awaited

The director said something too
What he said was beyond you
Some terms you had never heard before
And weren’t you glad about it?
Everyone wanted to add their two cents now

The conversation drifted
A thirty-minute meeting
Turned into an ordeal
An amble through the gates of Torture
A saga with no end in sight

The agenda faded in the background
Everyone got caught up in this new talk
Many other ‘useful’ suggestions
Were thrown recklessly at each other’s faces
The lass sat charmingly through it all

The proceeding was brought to an end
Thankfully
Actionables were handed out
Disregardingly
Another meeting invite was announced
Conveniently