Commuter Mummer

(A mummer is an actor in
a folk-ritual. O.E.D.)

here we are
mummers on the tube
enacting our corporate ritual
in the bowels of the city
and all in order to appease
THE MONEY GOD!
the Baal index!
that great cash cow
in the sky
hovering over our heads
and dominating us all
with her cruel and inhuman logic
the must-have
sine qua non
of income
‘moan’ ee
that stuff that oils of the wheels
of satan’s big machine
and keeps it all
turning
turning
round and round
like the cogs in Poirot’s brain
until we stop
dead
and scream
“I see it all now. Yea!
For I am bound
Upon a wheel of cash
That mine own tears do scald
Like golden ingots
Upon mine cheek. Alas!”
yes. alas for us.
poor mummers on the tube
struggling for room
each inhabiting
his own personal cloud
of personalised DOOM.