Fox

Throughout this story, I seek my own
liberation. That, rather than
talent or virtue, is what makes me
so resilient, so forgiving.
I speed across landscapes with Dumbling astride
my tail — in a predicament like mine,
one needs such guileless friends — taking him
from one messed-up adventure to the next.
I tell him exactly what he must do —
then he does the opposite! Fortitude
is needed… At our shared journey's end,
he's showered with wealth, the highest honours,
but will not sacrifice and free me —
even then, he cannot understand.
I must endure more years of the forest's
claustrophobia, dwell in a stinking den,
live another being's life. But one day,
I know, Dumbling will stumble upon me
in the woods, and grant my urgent plea for
a beheading, a divesting of paws.
Then my past self will draw breath again,
and I'll become a brother to King Dumbling,
slipping a wise word in every so often —
though to what effect, who'd venture to say?