Racing the Maze

The buzzer ignites…
The day is already a staccato double-time.

Engines roar
As miles spin to infinity
And roads deteriorate.

Worker rats run the gauntlet,
Suicidally sacrificing the sun
To enter the maze.

Corner by corner —
Turn by turn —
Stimulus of email, phone call, text —
Right reaction yields cheesy faux friends and popularity;
Wrong reaction deterred by meetings and endless e-mail chains.

But real cheese is never found —
Observers decided long ago
The maze would never have real reward.

Yet the worker rats still run —
Corner by corner,
Turn by turn.

Smarter ones leave before the sun is dead.
Unwise ones run long into the night.

Who wins? Who loses?
No one —
Worker rats have shortened life spans.