Dial It Back A Notch

Sitting in a meeting today with too much caffeine
several people spoke up - at length -
monotonous, unproductive length
and I had to really clamp down on myself
to keep from turning around to identify and brow-beat
the idiot speaking.

There was a silent man sitting next to me
and I kept looking at him out of the corner of my eye
he was reading something in his lap
and from my vantage point, it looked
as if his eyes were closed
in fact, he looked like he was dead
and I was kneeling beside his open casket
viewing his waxy white profile
hollowed eye sockets
frowning mouth
and that terrible stillness...

that cooled me out.