As a way into Dayenu, consider this passage from The Seas by Samantha Hunt. 

When I was young I went down to the pier looking for my father, I accidentally got on board the wrong boat. [...] I was scared on board, surrounded by five sailors. I thought that the captain was a pirate because he had a round bite taken out of his ear. To appease him I told him I’d work to pay for my passage. [...] Eventually I told him I would make a good end table or hassock. “Great,” he said. So I curled up on the dirty floor and prepared for work. I waited for some weight on my back but it never came. [...] When I was returned to my family I continued to work as a hassock around our house, and sometimes my father would actually use me, resting his feet while he watched the television. I liked the job because it reminded me of the sailors I had met on board. 

This is the tense incarnate. We waited for the weight and it never came. But even after returning home, even after being free, we find solace in revisiting the shape of submission, if only to recall the passage itself. 

(Now we drink the second cup of wine. Flip to the back of the book for the lyrics to "Dayenu.")


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
Source: Sam Corbin