Home Office

The years pass as though we cared not for them,

Disappointments, hopes, dreams…

Alike the small things slip us by, becoming memory’s fog.

We work, we sit, we dream, we plan, we go home.

The earth shrugged, plate ground against plate,

35 seconds of it, interrupting your end-of-day.

Concrete crashed in a thousand places, the screaming began.

You didn’t feel the earth move, yet it moved you.

No one would have faulted you had you left the office and
gone home.

You’ve seen it before. It’s always something, somewhere.

We wouldn’t have thought less of you.

But you lived your finest hour,

You answered every call, anticipated every question, juggled
every probability.

You fought for those struggling, you argued and persuaded
through bureaucracy,

As though they were your own flesh and blood you would not
let them go.

You suffered with those who suffering, cried with real
tears.

Beyond duty, beyond the need to sleep, beyond your own
families, your own time.

We only glimpsed what you did.

Noblesse, selfless,

Heroes of the Home Office.