13April

Day 13
Poetry Society prompt - haibun, mixed with Napowrimo.net prompt - a non apology

The Duck's back

It’s not that I don’t respect your grief or grievances, it’s just I feel, on balance, that covering my back is more important (my glossy back, my ministerial feathers). I’d mouth , or beak, a joke or stretch my wings, or hiss to let the other birds know, 'we’ve got a live one here' -  and you’ve shaped your nest of grief into an almost tangible thing and you filled it with anger . Your grief is a decoy sat next to you, beautiful and silent because it has no mouth, you are its mouth. But you know how it is, when you’re a fledgling or a child and the blame deflects - becomes no blame at all and someone in training once told me about how the verb 'to feel' can be neutral, which was unexpected. Neither warm or cold. It’s like that pledge for customer service we placed into an envelope, we hid under a stone,  and found months later, for us to review like a missive from the future or the past and which we’d all long forgotten. Blame-proof your feathers, test your wings. Empathy is important, yes, but -

Empathy should flow

Like water off a duck's back

Leaving only drops

Sorry if you feel

That there is no protection

Sorry if you feel