It Is Not An Animal Thing Poem by James McLain

i can be reasoned with
it is not,
an animal thing.
i do not,
not really, nor have i ever
coveted your wife
your woman
or children.
i do not want of that,
which is not mine.
no one knows but 'you,
who i am.
children are but, 'like the bonsai
tree.
and folding their limbs up
even by wire
even through fire
and they grow back out
always up towards,
the light.
do not be afraid of what
you
did to me.
after all,
is it not what made me into
what i am today.
i have never been afraid of you.
it is not defiance
it is not disrespect to the law
too the moral law of man.
knowing how it works.
knowing why it must be.
knowing you are my masters.
knowing you know,
i can not now lie to them.
they being you.
they of whom, 'it is
that put you where you are today.
my needs are simple.
my needs, my needs
you smile.
your needs are my needs.
you i always needed.
needed me, 'never,
you had me think, i thinking
did you ever ask of me,
what i thought my needs might be?
my only question is,
why did you leave me alive.