The voices are here again;
And these are not the friendly kind;
Not the ones that laugh at the jokes only I understand;
Not the ones I argue with about which color shoes match with color suit;
Or ask where I left my keys last night;
Not the ones that tell me to get my backside off the bed and into the shower;
Those voices can be irritating, but I know they mean well.

No, these voices are neither irritating nor well meaning;
They’ve got this uncanny blend of sultriness and terror;
That demands concurrent flight and fight in response;
Better men have been known to run leaving their robes behind;
Great men have lost the chance to miss disaster by listening just a little too long.

No, these voices are neither servile nor accommodating;
They don’t do ‘mergers’, only ‘subtly undertaken aggressive takeovers’;
They promise to keep the staff, even as they set them on fire;
“Calm down, calm down”, they say, “…it only burns…forever…”;
“Wait awhile, wait awhile”, they entreat, “…we just want a little bit of now”.

No, these voices are very good at what they do;
It appears they’ve been at it longer than I’ve been alive;
They promise to be here long after I’m gone;
But since I’m here now I’m fair game – apparently.

But I’m neither ‘fair’ nor ‘game’;
Right now I do not wish to be civil or rational;
This is a game I’m forced to play, forget fair play;
This is a game with my life for a pitch, forget foul play;
This is a game that ends when the pitch is gone, forget time outs.

No, these voices aren’t figments of my imagination – fertile though it may be;
These voices aren’t roses with thorns…just thorns looking like roses;
These voices have no place here, but they come anyway – uninvited, always lurking;
These voices have impeccable timing – slipping in at every opportunity, no knocking;
These voices aren’t always voices, but they’re always what I dread, packaged as what I want…even need;
These voices are masters of sophistry, grand-masters of mimicry, sages of veiled mockery – intimidating resume, I know.

But today these voices have met their match:
Because I plan to win some…and win some more;
Because I’ve got an Advocate on house call;
Because I went and permanently leased out this space to their antithesis;
Because enough is enough…enough of the mockery, and shame, and stains;
Because I am tired of listening to veiled insults and vain propositions;
Because we’ve played for about long enough…this sick game of Russian roulette;
Because I know now…they’re really not worth my time – not even remotely!