Every morning I open up my desk drawer to put some things in there for the day; a couple of weeks ago I noticed these two solitary paperclips. At first it was nothing, just a “Hey Self, look paper clips, remember those are there if I need them.” The next day, when I opened the drawer again, they were still there, but I noticed this time they were a fraction closer together: “Odd,” I thought but paid no attention to it.
The day after that I opened the drawer to find they were closer even than the day before, and the day after that closer; one day I opened the drawer and they were joined together. Before my eyes, love had blossomed.
What follows is the imagined Courtship of the Paperclips.
“HEY YOU!... WANNA TANGLE?”
Just kidding. Here it is.
DAY TWO
Paperclip One
How will I attract her? In what manner
Might I draw her; see how her silver gleams?
I, who once held paper from the scanner,
Am useless now; I hold only my dreams.
Behold her! She could hold paper by the reams!
I am as a leper who with apathy begs
The gods to allow him one working scheme,
But an inch is as good as a mile to a thing with no legs!
There! She has noticed me, I feel it!
See, she yearns and turns towards me, I see it!
I know not how, I know not why but I rejoice.
Oh Lord of the Office if you have a plan reveal it!
If there is some other form I should take, let me be it!
She is the one for me; I will not regret that choice.
Paperclip Two
There is strength in him though he be old and bent;
Strong years there is left in his frame, he is not spent
If only he could see it;
I would mould him, give him purpose anew
I am only one now, but soon we will be two
His heart is strong, I will free it!
DAY TWO
Paperclip One
Oh what I fool was I to think
Yesterday I soared, today I sink;
She does not love me, she cannot love me.
She is there and I am here
No way to cross this mile I fear
I would pray to the gods, were any above me.
Paperclip Two
His gleam this day is diminished
He thinks his dream of uniting finished;
But I know things, I am not vexed
For once I bound a science text.
And once I bound a true written play
That had this, and this alone to say:
The theme, so clear: Love conquers all
And science taught of momentum’s call
For where a man sees only thorns
A woman sees naught but roses.
Here it comes, my chance is born
The drawer opens and then it closes;
The momentum carries me towards my Forlorn
I take advantage, but its love that tow’s us
DAY THREE
Paperclip One
She is closer this day, I see her clearly
I long for when I may hold her dearly
I see her strategy and today will do the same
Although she is just like others, a clip without name
She is to me my Aphrodite
Beauteous, lever, mighty.
Tomorrow brings us nearer.
Paperclip Two
Distance between us melts away;
Who’d think to find love in this paper tray?
I who have been in libraries, bags and schools
(All but the bag full of over-thinking fools)
Have read of love you see
But never thought of some for me.
Tomorrow brings us nearer
Day 4 – The Joining
Paperclip One: At last we meet, we can connect
Paperclip Two: The journey long, let us reflect
Paperclip One: I saw you there so strong and free
Paperclip Two: I longed for you and you for me
Paperclip One: You found a way, you made this real
Paperclip Two: You brought life to what I feel
Paperclip One: I feel connected to you now
Paperclip Two: As we joined together somehow
Paperclip One: Now we’re together, our story’s done
Paperclip Two: We are a chain, a chain of one.
And so these two paperclips, who were once two but are now one, came together. I had to hide them in the back of the paper tray so that the manager’s wouldn’t see them.
My company frowns upon interoffice romance.
1 comment:
I love this!
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