Barrett's Engineers

O, the year was AD 2012.

(How I wish that I’d stayed far away)

They needed one with competence;

Profess’nal; with experience.

I tell you now: I was told

Untruths. A dummy I was sold.

A job from hell, it was clear…

I was a broken Goat with a wrecked career:

A burned-out civil engineer.

The fees had almost all been spent.

(How I wish that I’d stayed far away)

For the job had been won at a loss

And I had a slippy-shouldered boss.

So many things were in a mess,

Or hadn’t even been addressed.

I tried to fix it all. Oh dear…!

With no help, I became, I fear,

A bitter, twisted engineer.

Too many things lay incomplete.

(How I wish that I’d stayed far away)

With no time for anticipation

I fought the latest conflagration.

Assistance? Always refused

Which left me cross and unamused.

“If you resign, be sure we’re…

Gonna get you banned from working here.”

Unemployable engineer.

Two years have passed, and I am back

(How I wish that I’d stayed far away)

Now everything that I submit

Is rejected by some shining wit.

Co-operate? Not a chance!

Instead, a complicated dance.

Delay things for at least a year…

I am a waste of space while I work here;

Oxygen-stealing engineer.

No, the Goat can’t stand much more of this. 

(How I wish that I’d stayed far away)

But there’s nothing else that he can do 

‘Cept driving vans, or shovelling poo. 

Old Goat; new tricks? Does it seem 

That he has run right out of steam? 

What can he make from this sow’s ear…?

It’s time to start a new career;

Eschew the title ‘engineer’.

]}:-{>