None of them had ever known their fellow lowly duck
Dragged among them behind a white facade.
And though his face to them fixed stuck,
It hid tired expressions none should ever know.

The others didn't need him, so far as he could tell,
But he pondered whether he should take the plunge,
Down, down, all the way down from his own exhausted hell.
Enough was enough of this never-ending journey.

Pain wedges visibly under his wings,
Seems no hope to be lost.
Until his neighbors, of all things!
Catches him on their backs when needed the most.

So thus is this worthless duck saved
With the rest of his road yet to be paved.