Beast's Choice by Mackinley Clevinger, March 7, 2016
Slap the beast and call it dumb
Take its food and shorten leash
Let it sleep on cold hard ground
And leave it so without one care
Surprised to find it will not fight
When leash is off it tarries still
'Tween master and foe it casts its gaze
Not knowing which to find its mark
Fought side-by-side and won their fight
As time went by the care did dwindle
And life and love would fall to ruin
Second that comes with aspiration
Of a future good and wounds soon mended
Abolish the old and bring in the new
An enemy to first but saviour to you
The beast uncertain, between two others
A chance to take and old ways abandoned?
Or take abuse and cast down revolution?
A new day born or reject evolution?
Promises given and causes pledged
A movement born from within the shell
To save the beast and free its life
Must break the mould to recast the soul
Or respect retained and master obeyed
To follow commands, unthinking, unblinking
Strike down rebellion and accept the chain
Stability ensured along a life without change
A beast once caught and freed by lord
Then bound and tied till needed again
A wasted effort that ends betrayed,
An attempt for verdant fields so green?
No others stand with proffered hand
To flee them both to seek no other
One must die and the other served
One to reign for the good of both
A deal once made and now forgotten
Known to beast while lost to master
Promised anew, reparations lain out
But trust has died at honour's parting
To beast it lies to lay its gaze
Powers assumed, it resides elsewhere
Not in first, and nor in second,
The choice and power are lent by another
Such power drawn back in a vision deciding
Reminder of threat that lies in mistreatment
Left bare and at mercy, a curse, an apology
A flash, a thump, and a decision made final