{"sf1_id":1212646,"sf2_id":"rna3XpZe","title":"Embrace the Beast","author":"charles_they","words":166,"posted_at":"2017-07-18T00:58:56.000Z","tags":["Clean","Non-antho","Poem","Poetry","animal"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1212646-embrace-the-beast","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rna3XpZe","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/22/b6/22b6ac0d-d607-4193-89db-a63000faad38","description":"A poem on metaphoric werewolves and literal shapechangers.","content":"### Embrace the Beast\n\nThere comes a time in human life\n\nwhen all seems stuck in swamps of strife,\n\nand mists surround the mire of man—\n\nbut dare you ask how it began?\n\nEmbrace the beast you've willed away,\n\nthe faithful fiend you sought to slay,\n\nthe soul subject to all your rage,\n\nthough you're the brute who built the cage—\n\nSo distant seems its dear depart,\n\nyet time again, you slip and start\n\nand feel it clawing at your breast\n\nand for a moment are possessed—\n\nEmbrace the beast that waits within,\n\nthe something sleeping in your skin,\n\nthe feral friend that fights to free\n\nitself from human tyranny—\n\nSo whether by the moonlight pale—\n\nand whether fur or hide or scale—\n\ncall forth the thing that's at your core,\n\nand shed the form you wore before—\n\nEmbrace the beast, for now you know\n\nit follows far, and high, and low,\n\nit stalks and stumbles, world askew,\n\nin search of self—\n\nin search of you.","series":{"name":"Poetry Postings","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1207498-dandelions.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1220895-the-diplomat.json"}}