Once in every lifetime
Comes a chance to break the mould
Of trains and tea
And cheap alarms,
And lists of things to do.

But to dare to choose the
Nettled path and shun the
Padded escalator is not
Applauded by society.

Social gravity breeds stream-
Lined minds with fixed
Targets and no distractions.
A speed-boat ripping past the
Calm deliberations of a man as yet unmade.

The signpost rusted years ago
If ever it was used by failing Man.
As daily thousands reach
For coffee and miss the fork
In the road that might have changed everything.

And soon this path will go for good
As countless lemmings leap the cliff of
Trains and tea and cheap alarms.
Unused it rots until tomorrow brings
A close to options - only single file

We march, then, looking neither
Left nor right into our
Ready-made grave and leaving
Behind a world more fucked than
When we joined it.