-O-
Have you every worked late, and alone, in a large office? Late like, 3 a.m.?
photo by dsnake1
-O-
the fear
slices
razor on skin
the mouth dry
about to
-O-pen
beware the whine
in the
air ducts
it is
whispering
ancient stories
the glare
of monitor screens
a vicious leer
you keep thinking
of pale
pallid faces
is that a strand
of hair brushing
your face?
if you just
turn your head
and you would not
because
the dark shadows
in your heart
becomes
a blur a shape in the corner
the room
the eye
the eyes
their EYEs!
piercing
more so
in the coldness.
01/06/2014
**********
"One need not be a chamber to be haunted.”
-- Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems
Shared on Poetry Pantry #299 at Poets United.
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2016
-O-
the fear
slices
razor on skin
the mouth dry
about to
-O-pen
beware the whine
in the
air ducts
it is
whispering
ancient stories
the glare
of monitor screens
a vicious leer
you keep thinking
of pale
pallid faces
is that a strand
of hair brushing
your face?
if you just
turn your head
and you would not
because
the dark shadows
in your heart
becomes
a blur a shape in the corner
the room
the eye
the eyes
their EYEs!
piercing
more so
in the coldness.
01/06/2014
**********
"One need not be a chamber to be haunted.”
-- Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems
Shared on Poetry Pantry #299 at Poets United.
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2016
posted by dsnake1 at 11:23 PM
14 Comments:
I have never ever had to work in an office that light (my work allows me to work late from home).. but I can feel the chill of deserted office space... we once put ghostly sounds on a computer that was triggered at midnight when I was at university... and finally there was a professor there when it started to play... He did not die of heart attack.
*Shivers* This is quite a vivid and intense write!!
Oh, you made me feel that fear of what one might see, if we turn our heads. I have seen a ghost or two in my time. They were friendly. Smiles.
What delicious scary fun...I have stayed until 10pm but that is late enough for me...I would be afraid of every sound and shadow I think!
You have captured the fear of being alone....and late...and listening to every noise & wondering just who else is present. Eerie!
Awesome! I have worked late in an office - though not 3 a.m. late, I don't think. It is creepy. Everything is so magnified. Kind of like being in a 6 p.m. traffic jam, on a bridge, in November, when darkness falls so early (at least where I live) and it pops into your mind: human beings are not meant to be crammed in like this,in this place, at this hour. Of course, in an office the thought comes to mind: human beings are not meant to be alone, in this place, at this hour. Ha!
Haha....oh yes....the vicious leers and the dark shadows....you have described well what the imagination can do when you are working alone late at night!!
I have been to the office at night but never to feel this way. That building must hold some dark secrets.
A superb gothic tale - and closing quote - time to go home - in fact way past time to go home!
Bjorn,
oh wow! what pranksters you all are! i guessed i would have been scared stiff. :)
Sanaa,
guess this poem works! btw, the photo is a shot of a part of may office. (with most of the lights off!) :D
Sherry,
i have not "seen" any one of them, but i do feel a "presence" on a couple of times while in the military. :(
Donna,
thank goodness i need not work at such odd hours now. i used to work the graveyard shift, but never alone. there was a small crew. the incident i was writing about are the ones i get recalled back to work because of some emergencies. :(
Mary,
maybe it is the imagination that is playing...:)
Wendy,
i guess everything happening at these hours are magnified. every sound, every light and shadow. the human body, and mind is not built for this.
but being stuck in a traffic jam may be different from this, with loads of people and sounds. maybe more like claustrophobia? :)
C.C,
yes, it is perhaps the imagination that is wrecking havoc... :)
Robin,
perhaps! it was said that building was built over a former burial ground.
Jae,
go home? i just reached the office! thankfully, those mad hours of emergency call-backs are over. :)
In another life, that was my norm. Salaried and working time sensative legal papers at the time of the financial crisis in 2007-2008. Company refused to hire new staff so, I found myself often in the office to Midnight - 3a.m. Staring at papers and monitors can play crazy tricks on you mind when you're exhausted yet working as detailed and as quickly as possible. I loved that job, but I don't miss those days staying late in the office.
it was part of the job then, and still is. to be ready to be called out at any time of the day or night. thankfully it is getting less and less.
those must be exhausting days for you. :)
I used to work nights in an old factory that was said to be haunted. I remember having to walk through the old part at night, alone, scary.....
" an old factory that was said to be haunted". now that's scary! :)
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