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Where My Tail Used To Be

April 29, 2013
By TheCapturedBat GOLD, Belen, New Mexico
More by this author
TheCapturedBat GOLD, Belen, New Mexico
12 articles 0 photos 88 comments

Favorite Quote:
If all else perished and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.
-- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

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There's a little pain
At the base of my spine
A few nerves the surgeon
Just barely touched.
We adapt and lose things.
It's the way of nature, I suppose,
But it makes me sad.

© Alex B., Bethesda, MD

The author's comments:
I know this must sound odd. It was inspired by a joke that my father and stepmother enjoy applying to me and my sisters. They like to say that it was necessary to remove our tails in order to civilize us. It is part of a general opinion of theirs that we turned out all wrong. That joke has come to symbolize the way that I feel they are trying to change me. This poem is also about the evolution of mankind. It seems like a tragedy that we lost so much in the process of becoming the advanced creatures that we are.
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