The Alternative Accountant's Prayer Unto Death
A Poem For The Millenium
It was when the lady
from the Contributions Agency
told me with spirit
that no, she could not send at my request
so significant a document
as written confirmation
of his insurance number
to my client
(so that he might produce it
to the Revenue),
but would instead –
conforming to the rules
created by the Data Registrar –
send him the form prescribed
for him to sign and, by returning it,
personally request
the Agency should send to him,
in writing, confirmation
of his National Insurance number,
that I fell down upon my knees
and beat the floor with hands
and feet, and head,
and wept;
remembering the words of prophecy –
for it has been written
that men in suits
shall quarter the land
demanding accountability,
but offering none;
and that even the greediest
shall be compensated
for their own cupidity.
And a flood of documents
shall issue from
the Offices of the Data Registrar
and Executive of Health and Safety,
until the people scarce can breathe beneath them;
and the land will become
a land of litigation.
But those that were born
and grew to manhood
revelling in the days of freedom,
when there was yet colour
in the land,
and light and dark,
and optimism among the people
and not the politicians only;
unbending in the grey tide
they shall break and shatter,
and die not in their beds,
but of the apoplexy.
Let it be soon, oh Lord,
Let it be soon; they play
not with our lives
but with our souls.
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