The watercolors flash across my screen
As I clean out my desk drawers.
I watch with an uninterrupted hunger
For places I’ve never been
And creative time I can’t spare.
Again I am a Dilbert
Barred in my cubicle
Chained to my desk.

The screensaver flashes
To a cottage home
Bathed in afternoon sun.
The green of the grass is nuclear;
The flowers fragrant.
I can hear the robin’s song.

My defeat is final,
And my longing is just that.
A desire for freedom
That will not be sought after.
I sense the uselessness
Of any struggle
And settle into my boredom
With a stain of bitterness.