The Nice Jobs Ladder

Hair in place and language clean Nothing frayed and nothing mean Names on lanyards, glass and chrome Every corridor says home Measured smile and steady hand Every rung exactly planned Soft sole, bright screen, open plan A future you can understand Not the yard, not the rain Not the wire, not the strain Just the badge and the brief And the lift of clean belief Up the nice jobs ladder Step by careful step Every polished answer Every fitted breath Up the nice jobs ladder Bright with glass and light Where the house rewards the ones Who learn to rise just right HR, chambers, clinic floors Keycard clicks and sliding doors Audit trails and meeting notes Perfectly calibrated quotes Nothing crude and nothing loud Nothing that would shame the crowd Only the fluent and the mild Only the house-trained and the styled Not the ditch, not the mud Not the hand, not the blood Just the form and the tone And the skill of sounding known Up the nice jobs ladder Step by careful step Every polished answer Every fitted breath Up the nice jobs ladder Bright with glass and light Where the house rewards the ones Who learn to rise just right This is not corruption This is how things scale Order needs its servants Clean, correct, and pale But every rung made visible Makes another vanish too Somebody names what counts as grace And grace decides for who Up the nice jobs ladder Step by careful step Every polished answer Every fitted breath Up the nice jobs ladder Bright with glass and light Where the house rewards the ones Who learn to rise just right Up the nice jobs ladder Past the weathered hand Past the rougher virtues No longer in demand Up the nice jobs ladder Neat in word and frame The climb is real and well-deserved And not untouched by name Glass and chrome Badge and brief Clean belief Step by step