We get on a boat, never mind if it sinks, we pay <br />the captain by throwing him overboard. And when he <br />gets back onboard we say, captain, please don't be <br />angry. And he forgives us this time. And so we throw <br />him overboard again just to make sure we have fully <br />paid the price we have set upon our passage. When he <br />gets back onboard he is not anxious to forgive us, <br />and he would like it much better if we would get off <br />his boat. There is nothing left for us to do but to <br />repay him and hope that this time it will be enough. <br />And so we throw him overboard again. When he comes <br />aboard again we say, now this must be the last of <br />this, we will pay no more, we want the journey to <br />begin. <br /> <br /> But it seems there will be no journey since we have <br />gotten the captain used to a good thing. And so we <br />must spend the rest of our days throwing the captain <br />overboard.<br /><br />Russell Edson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/paying-the-captain/
