AVANT SOUL

Every once in a while we will attempt
    to adopt something wild & wounded

We will feed it chocolate-covered strawberries
Bring it tiny saucers of fragrant jasmine tea

We will sing lullabies to it in ancient tongues
    and lace its cloven feet with patent leather shoes

But the day will come when it will bite
    and claw and rip with spite
    and return to lands far flung

We had tried to hold,
                to cajole, to care,
                               to hear it purr

Yet received lasting scars from sandpaper teeth
Ripping best intentions asunder from underneath its fur

                                        Temporarily
                                        We can only offer shelter
To that which harbors no responsibility to change,
And haughtily displays its nature fierce, unyielding,

                                        Returning to its brittle cave of loneliness
                                        With an ungrateful growling snarl.