| You were once a man. |
| Now you are this beast. |
| Sacrificed your name,
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| that human history. |
| Abandoned
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| all you were by answering my ad, to spend these carefree days: animal at last.
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| I brush your tangled hair
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| and feed you from my palm. |
| Wear your sparkly collar, scrabble when I call.
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| Grunt and mewl your moods
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| (words died with your past), your struggles finally over: animal at last.
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| I need you like a master needs a pet. |
| I love you even with both our regrets.
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| I see you as a man we can
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| forget. |
| I hold you and we both shed our debts. |
| I am pleased you are free there
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| on your knees.
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| I spy you twisting leg, feigning your surprise. |
| Limp to the dinner bowl,
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| the tired in your eyes. |
| Dream at
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| night as man? |
| Proven in your frown. |
| Weary of the lie and ready to lie down.
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| Never could it last.
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| Call you to the bucket. |
| You lick away my tears, holy in your yielding,
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| ceding human fears. |
| Look, you were
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| never suited for responsibil- ity, so I’ll help you never face such culpability.
|
| Anticipation mount- ing. |
| Am I
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| strong enough to finish what I started, this human-canine bluff?
|
| Hand rests on your nape. |
| Yes, stoop and
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| lap the water. |
| Such control!—playacting even at the edge of slaughter. |