Oh, that makes sense.
For a quick and dirty fix, you might be able to define columns using a multiplexer like gnu screen or tmux. I think I know how to do that using byobu (a screen/tmux config wrapper), so that it would come up by default with three panes set up like columns, with the first and the third being narrow to create faux margins, and the middle pane running your top of choice.











Pretty sure the systemd command you’re talking about just adds the bus to PATH. You very likely could just do that yourself.