Black Swan

Much of life is spent creating, or maintaining, an acceptable appearance - a veneer, if you like.

Take the swan: ostensibly controlled,unflustered, elegant - above the surface of the water. Below it, though, all is frantic, ceaseless, convulsive energy, the cessation of which would inevitably, and almost instantaneously, bring disaster.

In a vast lake full of white swans, I am the only black one.