two flightless birds on a branch

a wood-saw working in my hand

you trying to stop me sawing

hoping to keep us on dry land

 

below us runs a deep rushing river

if the branch is severed, we drown

I shrug off your efforts to stop me

Though it will bring both of us down

 

the branch is nearly sundered

I can hear it creak and groan

your hysteria makes me angry

I wish you'd leave me alone

 

the stun of immersion in icy water,

I never realised you couldn't swim

though the bank is within my reach

I watch you drown limb by limb

 

they gave me shock-treatment that

for now, cured my depressive bent

but I wish you'd not lost your wings

for it was not what I really meant

 

why could'nt I find contentment?

just accept the way things are

stop demanding a better life

remorselessly raising the bar