writing excerpt uhhh part 2

hello, loki here again. um. i've decided to once more share some writing. this time, i'm sharing a poem i wrote. i wrote it today, about a former love. hope you enjoy, and find some meaning in my suffering. oh and please don't steal my work.

I was an animal that she decided needed her. A stray that he took in, if not only to better his own image.

And, like a stray, I was nervous. I trembled and my tail tucked itself between my legs around her. I tore out my claws and canines.

I was kept in some backroom until she saw fit to parade me around for her own benefit.

Every time I cried out for anything—be it food or water or simply a PRESENCE—I was scolded and shut away in the dark some more.

She would let me out only to show me the other dogs. Shining coats and perfect figures. When I suggested dying my coat or cropping my ears, I was scolded. I was not meant to look like them.

She would shut me in that room until the other dogs had wandered off or fallen asleep, and only then would she tell me what a beautiful coat I have, how lovely my ears and markings are.

When I would try to leave, she would coax me back into the room. She would say I’m her favorite dog—the most special one—that’s why I was treated so differently. I believed her.

But, I am not a dog. I did not deserve to be treated as such. I don’t ever want to be that thing again; something to use and own, rather than something worth caring for.