Zookeeper

zoo-2

Do you ever get the feeling
 that you are not you?

Instead you are the mediator
 behind a whole menagerie of beasts 
each one for each passion.

The more passionate you are 
the more beasts you harbor.

The deeper your compassion runs,
 the larger in size they grow.

And everyday becomes a struggle
 to keep those beasts at bay.
 To feed their hunger
 least they feed upon you.

I know they’d say 
that you have to chose between 
your animals.
 Which to feed,
 and which to leave starving.

But tell me
 how do you look into the eyes
 of a living, breathing creature 
and strive to kill him?

How do you see them,
 and not see yourself?

How is peace imposed the self,
 that which is not imposed upon others?

Instead I find myself
 nurturing my darlings 
training them, fostering them.

In the hopes that one day
they may recognize in me
the glint of understanding
all too recognizable, 
in them.

~

Written by: Casey Lumagbas (Manila, Philippines) / tumblr

Yume Magazine #8 / Buy now / Read online