Aspirants and Aspirins

He’s at the top

I’m just halfway there,

I’ll probably never make it

And that’s my fear.

He was halfway up

When I started out

But moving at his rate?

That’s not what I’m about.

The top is mine

It was promised to me,

I was born to lead

Any blind man can see.

For too long now

I have been led,

He’s in my position

I must be at the head.

I need to move now

And quicken up my rate

Or I won’t make it,

What a terrible fate!

Just middle management

Are you kidding me?

By the end of this year

The top is where I’ll be.

But so short a period

In which to achieve,

So many in between

That will likely impede.

Twenty years it took

To be where I am now

But in a year’s time

I’ll be at the top somehow.

It’s not about the salary

Well, not that alone

But I like the importance

Of being in that zone.

  

I like the accolades they get

And I see how they strut

And besides all that

I’ve been too long in this rut.

Middle management

 For these last five years!

It is time to move on

I must change gear.

Full speed ahead!

Get out of my way!

I am coming for the top

I don’t care who is there.

All of this aspiration

It’s giving me a headache,

I’d better take an aspirin

Or I might be “the late”.

A word to the wise

And to the foolish too,

At times there appears no difference

Between these two.

Better take your time

And pay your dues,

Focus on the next level

Even with the top in view.

There are enough headaches

Between this and the next,

An aspirin may not work

Especially when you’re vexed.

Your time will come

If you wait your turn,

Impatience is like a match

It can really burn.

Aspiration is all right

And it is very necessary too

But too many aspirins

And we could be burying you.

Stewart Russell © February 2019