You cannot threaten to destroy a civilization if you are not yourself civilized.

(Read this with a soundtrack.)

*****

Now

Now is the time of monsters – yes

But it is also the time of poets,
the soft courage of mothers
distilling violence into words
that try to soothe little questions
asked in the smallest voices.

The time of those who have always lived like this,
whose wisdom blossomed because it had to.

It is the time of friendship,
of learning to hold each other closer,
it is the time of “I love you”
often and frequently,
because to run a simple errand
means you might never come back.

I love you.

It is the time of monsters – yes

And also the time of our better angels,
the stage upon which all will witness
that the arc of the moral universe
cannot bend without our constant pressure

that will eventually snuff the monsters out.

A Dog Cannot Be Controlled

Of course I thought I knew it all,
that I had it all figured out

but a dog is not to be controlled.

That's a fantasy that men made up
in their foolish pursuit of meaning
in a cosmically indifferent and chaotic world
that neither laughs nor cries at our prideful futility
that doesn't care at all.

There are no alpha wolves –
what a stupid thing to believe in.

A dog has no master, no god, and no owner.
His survival may depend entirely upon you,
but a dog does not care if he lives or if he dies,
he has no plans and no regrets, no burden of the future or the past,
and no one to impress. A dog cannot have shame.

A dog simply is.

You can put him in a cage,
you can hurt him,
you can kill him,
you can try to project all your insecurity onto him,
but when he dies
it's only you who will know why.

Your heart will not forget the impotent lie
nor the terrifying truth.

A dog is not to be control.
A dog cannot be controlled.
A dog will not be controlled.

A dog has no thoughts other than that in front of him,
no motivations other than the immediate.
Incapable of cruelty or malice, never not innocent and pure.

And you, a man, are envious.
Because your master is your ego,
your god is your wound,
and your owner is your fear.

A slave to your own inadequacy.
And you never, ever won't be.