Sinking, and fast
Agatha spends all her time in the attic
Dorothy’s drawings leave doctors aghast
Anthony’s charging the cats up with static
All of us know that we’re sinking, and fast
Dorothy eats only chocolate and vegetables
Agatha’s pockets are brimming with pins
Anthony’s shoplifting minor comestibles
All of us know what a pickle we're in
(Mummy and Daddy are not really interested
Daddy said Mummy should see to the kids
Mummy said Daddy should be more invested
Afterwards, typically, neither one did)
Agatha’s taken to following Dorothy
Anthony’s started to speak in reverse
Dorothy’s lecturing everyone constantly
All of us know that we’re under a curse
Anthony says that he’s memorised Ulysses
Agatha’s walking (again) in her sleep
Dorothy’s essays are packed with parentheses
All of us know that we’re in way too deep
(Mummy and Daddy have long since surrendered
Daddy retreats to his study each night
Mummy despairs of the kids they’ve engendered
Nothing, with us lot, will ever go right)
Anthony claims that he’s blackmailing Parliament
Dorothy keeps an old sock in a jar
Agatha says that she knows just what Sartre meant
All of us know that we’re going too far
Dorothy’s knotted her hair into tangles
Anthony’s stuck with a home-made tattoo
Agatha clatters with sixty-eight bangles
All of us know that we’re deep in the stew
(Mummy and Daddy have taken to therapy
Daddy says his Daddy made himself scarce
Mummy says her Mummy’s love was too syrupy
They only talk if they meet on the stairs)
Copyright © 2021 Murray Ewing.