Broken Part Security Blanket

This little battered scrap of metal
A pseudo-triangle of aluminum
A bit tattered at one end
Is my job in a microcosm

Flashlight in one hand
A rag in the other
I'd found this little beauty on an engine pylon
Not the most important piece of metal
But it's part of the airplane
And it was damaged
So I'd written it down

It's an easy fix
Only an official Boeing drawing away
To find the material spec
And the dimensions

That combined with the mostly intact sample part
Makes for a fine fabrication
All written up proper and signed off after installation
It looks like new up there
The brand new little pseudo-triangle
Riveted in place with brand new rivets

Which leaves me here at the desk
Idly playing with this now useless old damaged piece
With a shiny smooth spot that my fingers like to touch
It feels satin-y

I wish everything in life was as easy to fix as this piece of metal
To just excise the bad part
Consult the proper drawing
And fabricate the new part
Installing with standard practices

Looked at in that light
My job is easy
It adheres to a fixed set of rules and criteria
With techniques that are known and must be followed

All of which leaves you with a shiny airworthy aircraft
Safe to use for flight

Life isn't as easy
The points of data always seem to move about
Everyone has a different idea of how to do things
And you never know if it's safe to proceed

The little broken part feels good in my hand
I think I'll take it home
A small reassurance that not everything is hard to figure out
That maybe there is hope for life after all