Brute

You think you're Genghis Kahn,
but I've never seen you
thunder over the mountains
in a pounding sea of hooves
and swords,
your dog-teeth gleaming
pearls in the moonlight;
I've never seen you kill.

When you caught the marlin,
you told me to look away
while you killed him,
but I watched anyway,
saw you crouch down,
your knee on his head,
and tear the hook
out of his jaw before
throwing him back,
hoping I wouldn't notice.

I've always admired how
you paint with such bold,
carnivorous strokes, and
wondered why you use
only rare-steak-and-
ketchup pigments,
when you say
you like blue best.

Why did you think
I wouldn't notice
a missing fish?
Looking out into the sea,
I saw his blue, moon-shaped tail
propelling him toward the equator
faster than you or I could ever canter
on our inadequate human hooves.