Office gossip

Sticks and stones
May break my bones
But words can never hurt me
There’s a sentiment with which I have to disagree

Malicious little rumours get underneath the skin
I’m damned if for a second I’ll let that woman win
I haven’t stolen from her nor said I want her job
Yet she wants to put me up in front of a lynch mob

I haven’t killed a kitten or had sex with her boyfriend
Yet this wave of vitriol seems to have no end
I’m caught in a nightmarish kindergarten flashback
Under siege from an ill-disguised, ill-timed attack

I keep expecting her to come and pull my pigtails
Or scratch the skin off my back with her talonlike false nails
I will admit I had a laugh when first I became aware
She had in for me and I’d better beware

Now it’s not amusing but petty and bizarre
And the gossip and the little lies have left a painful scar