Licence to Leave

You must be looking forward to putting your feet up.
One more dumb cliché and I’ll go insane . . .
If I switch off, will I ever start again?
No more hard grind – I wish I had your luck!

You must be proud of everything you’ve achieved.
Does anyone give a damn about the past?
Your wife will see something of you at last.
Who on earth are they trying to deceive?

So often it’s been me applying such phrases
as though they were a plaster on a cut . . .
A few years later, I’ve struggled to remember

(if I’ve glanced back at all) names, even faces,
of those I’ve stood last rounds. I drink up, but
at closing time I’ll head off home, stone-sober.


Tom Vaughan
 
If you have any thoughts about this poem,  Tom Vaughan would be pleased to hear them