Andrea Nadal was a personable, hard-working business office associate on our program. This office was under-staffed given the number of Latest Financial Accounting (LFA) forecasts the government asked us to produce based on what-if scenarios. My part of the job was to estimate what their proposed changes would cost in labor and materials. Her job was to apply company rates spread over the timeframe required to perform the work and report the estimate. These requests always required a very short turnaround and often had to be reassessed based on revised changes. She worked long hours with little appreciation coming from the customer. It was no wonder she left the program for a better opportunity. I was very sad to see her go.
To Andrea Nadal’s Boyfriend
You might wonder why your girlfriend
Never speaks of where she works.
It could be the oath she’s taken,
Or that we’re a bunch of jerks.
She has had enough of New Moon.
She has had enough of us.
She is riding towards the sunset
On an outbound Greyhound bus.
She’s renounced this hectic lifestyle –
She’s an absolute defector.
She’s decided things are better
If she joins the private sector
Where the sun is shining brighter,
And the air she breathes is cleaner,
Where the workload must be lighter,
And the money must be greener.
Her new office has a window:
Maybe that has some appeal.
And she talks about her job now –
Why’s that such a freakin’ deal?
We are sorry that she’s leaving.
Is there something we can say
That will make her change this notion
And convince her she should stay?
Her departure has us thinking
That we’ve tasted something bitter.
If we promise to behave, would
Maybe then she reconsider?
Even when she was purveyor
Of the hated LFA,
Still her sympathetic smile
Was the highlight of my day.
I’m not sure how I’ll recover.
I’m not sure how I will cope.
When she leaves there’ll be a vacuum
That will suck away all hope
And all the life in this miserable existence.
(Does that convey how sad I am Andrea is leaving?)
Best wishes in your new life.
John M. Campbell
8 May 2013
Click here for my previous poem, The Ballad of Don Mirrione