Please don’t pull me into this

I was sailing into my late 30s, trying to enjoy some bliss

When the very word landed on my desk

Who was on the other end: I actually could have guessed

I’d been scheduled for a deposition

But could I just not respond

My absence could be a minor omission

So on a Monday I found myself there

Sitting in a leather chair

Contemplating how life’s so unfair

One lawyer, two lawyers

A microphone and a videotape

I looked around the small office but there was no escape

I felt like Indiana Jones in a dungeon of snakes

The guy in the suit rifled through my account

Hunting for all my mistakes

Then the next attorney had his turn

Always two sides to a story

People will hear what was never said

If there’s one thing I’ve learned

It’s that the quarreling never ends, that everyone is misread

I think back on my adjectives

In a medical record six years ago

Before I met with guys in black jackets

I didn’t know

There were so many snakes

That I’d always feel like a fake

“Yes,” I wrote that

“Yes,” these are the facts

Whether in an office or a courtroom

All our souls are tainted

We’re all doomed

I came into this to heal

But nurturing lost its appeal

Patients are consumers, dollar signs

Who’s ultimately at fault

Is it the nurse’s negligence

Or the patients lack of intelligence

The snakes will sort it out

But in detaching, I realized they also probably just want out

Trying to pay their bills

The quarreling and fault-finding never stills

I’m a reluctant witness

Just trying to go through life in bliss

But I can never really find it

In a deposition, I’m reminded

That the accuser is all around

Discontent and finger pointing abounds

Everyone’s just looking for a little sliver of bliss

Even the “snakes”

I walk out with my briefcase

Full of insecurities, misjudgments, faults

I give everyone a break