The Beast and the Drowning Bucket - Cretin

You were once a man.

Now you are this beast.

Sacrificed your name,

that human history.

Abandoned

all you were by answering my ad, to spend these carefree days: animal at last.

I brush your tangled hair

and feed you from my palm.

Wear your sparkly collar, scrabble when I call.

Grunt and mewl your moods

(words died with your past), your struggles finally over: animal at last.

I need you like a master needs a pet.

I love you even with both our regrets.

I see you as a man we can

forget.

I hold you and we both shed our debts.

I am pleased you are free there

on your knees.

I spy you twisting leg, feigning your surprise.

Limp to the dinner bowl,

the tired in your eyes.

Dream at

night as man?

Proven in your frown.

Weary of the lie and ready to lie down.

Never could it last.

Call you to the bucket.

You lick away my tears, holy in your yielding,

ceding human fears.

Look, you were

never suited for responsibil- ity, so I’ll help you never face such culpability.

Anticipation mount- ing.

Am I

strong enough to finish what I started, this human-canine bluff?

Hand rests on your nape.

Yes, stoop and

lap the water.

Such control!—playacting even at the edge of slaughter.