Our Angel of the Cubicle

for Eric

1991 - 1998

for too short a time

an angel came visiting

the boss' seven year old son

would brighten our work lives

on days off from school

an honorary cubicle

always at his disposal

busy as the rest of us

computer humming

with children’s CDs

comic books and crayons

talented magic

in everything he did

one time to our delight

each name plate

covered with colored

construction paper equivalent

names correctly spelled

amid rainbows and stars

happily interrupting the routine

with boundless imagination

myriad questions

about the world around him

we knowing someday he’d go far

though never imagined the distance

one day an early December freeze

brought a sprinkling of snow

black ice hidden beneath

dad driving our youngest coworker

to school lost control

next morning the sun shone bright

pavement dry again

as if nothing had happened

though each of us knowing

the office would never be the same

our angel of the cubicle

called to work in Heaven

© 2001 Chris Sorrenti