Colin Nixon
Civil Servants
Safe
as a sixty degree temperature.
Worthy
but not too worthy.
Time served
honoured
but not too honoured.
Like intermittent sunshine that gleams
then abdicates.
Like a desk which opens invitingly
but is book-less.
A little uncertainty would spice these lives
nothing as daring
as sharing
other people's wives you understand
a pint instead of a half
is an increase sufficient.
Having long ambition
most will be disappointed by time's earned prize
but some will wait in the room with the Bs
and receive their sovereign's sincerity
and hire from Moss Bros
the suit to fit the temperature.
Page(s) 19
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