In Defensione Sui Poem by David Mitchell

When a poet writes the words
floating in a sea of hopelessness and despair
he does not mean
that he goes around
with a big black raincloud over his head
he intends to convey
to his readers if he has any
and to himself if he has not
that we all despair at times
but does not intend them to think
that he is in a permanent state
of desiring to kill himself
and waiting for death to come
he does mean
that when the poem came to him
he was in a room with a large number of people in it
which he found conducive to poetic thoughts
and he could not hear what people were saying
because of the noise
but he did not immediately write it down
because someone started talking to him
but he wrote the words down that evening
by which time he felt fine
and he was not feeling particularly sad in any case
it was a metaphor

(Tuesday,8th November,2005.)