on television
a favourite series
with him and her
playing the parents
I wish were mine

from the river
ducks follow me home
their mother
scavenging elsewhere
… do I look like her?

we tell them
to put their masks on,
to no avail,
why aren’t we mean enough
to wish them ill

no longer wishing
to go back to work
this is me
carrying my burn-out
like a briefcase