There’s a tee-shirt that reads:
No, I haven’t finished my ****** thesis yet!
Well I know why we wear them
How can you finish something you are afraid to start?
It’s quite a rational terror
Not of the unknown
But a fear of the overly interesting
The dangerous the seductive the all embracing
Once you have begun the reading
Ideas start flowing
Prosaic matters begin to pale
Like money (as in making enough to live)
Home food relationships
Maybe even sleep
And you are sure
You are dead sure
That once you begin
There will be no returning
To a contented life
With visible boundaries and easy hopes
Do I dare
Will I unbind my arms
Release the mast
And surrender to the Siren
No no not ready yet
Better to pull on that tee-shirt
And write a little poem.