I am nothing more than minimum wage
or thirty-eight hours a week.
I'm four weeks off a year
rising to five after one year of service.
I'm a pension that I may not see
I'm a house I'll never own,
I am all the things I own
but don't need.
I am a fourteen pound a week bus-pass
then a ten minute walk
uphill.
I am fifteen minutes of preparation
of stillness
I am eight hours of sadness
A sandwich, a cup of tea,
I am eight hours of no consequence.
A ten minute walk
downhill
a thirty minute wait
forty minutes
fifty minutes
I am cold, wet and bothered.
I am not home.