Shame  (a poem)
Channel: John Ribner
Date: 2013-12-07

by John P. Ribner
 
There beyond is a dog,
Shaven, it stands
a naked grotesque
deserving to be set ablaze
The creature's yelps of agony
fuel the angry crowd
They beat it, wound it, scar it
as it scampers away
in frenzied desperation,
anything to escape
the white-hot brutality
brought down upon its head
Yelping, it returns
to seek solace
in the only home it knows
The cold and empty arms
of an unloving mistress,
the cruelty she provides
is a bitter reminder
of the day its ears burned

And so it lays
its scarred head
upon cold floorboards,
eyes closing as it drifts off
into another fitful sleep
ears alert
for even the slightest noise
a tiny creak somewhere in the house
causes its head to jerk,
eyes wide open,
hyper-vigilant in anticipation
of the next attack ...