Knew I Was Outnumbered

I can’t remember when
I wasn’t a duality. From
first becoming self-aware
there was no time I dared
think of me as a singular entity.

Yes, thinking of ‘me’ as ‘us’ was
weird but a more comfortable
way of integrating all parts of
a vigorous multi-personality,
and it worked out okay.

When ‘we’ married and soldiering
permitted ‘us’ live with our wife
there were three entities tripartite;
it took years to manoeuvre the
attendant idiosyncrasies.

I know ’we’ never succeeded. What
I can say is ‘us’ became ‘me’ – even
polar opposites will bond in
relations when facing a spectre
of certain extinction.

The ‘we’ that remains is still ‘I and she’
as this battle of wills plays out passage
to time-honoured conclusions, whatever
they may be; all I can say at least is
– I knew I was outnumbered.
© I.D. Carswell 2006