Once upon a time

a wolf, a hawk, a dog,
a cat, a snake, and a pig
were hanging out together
in the one place they could relax and not
be each other’s natural prey or enemy —
outside a poet’s house.  

Each was waiting
to be chosen to serve
as a symbolic inspiration to others 
or to be pressed into service
as a metaphor for something else.

They spoke in low voices over coffee —
who might be chosen?  Snake and Pig
prayed for the writer to be
politically motivated; Dog and Cat argued
for a sonnet on domestic abuse;
Wolf and Hawk, as always, took the
metaphysical angle and hoped
for someone with a natural bent
who could press them into 
aspirational role modeling.

When the door opened
and the poet beckoned 
it took them a moment 
to swarm him.  It wasn’t planned
but they were tired and damned
if anyone was going to be asked
to be anything other than what
they were.

This is the poem they ended up in
and they lived happily ever after —

well, perhaps it was not
ever after but for a moment
they were happy.

Not as happy
as they would have been 
if the poet had just offered
to put each of them into a haiku
without bending them
to human need at all,

but pretty happy.
For a while anyway.