=something must break it=

Something must break it
must rupture
must snap it

Something that cripples
must strike it
must kneel it

Something must whip it
into submission

On all-fours it gets up
it spits blood
it looks up
it deep breathes
it falls down
it crawls forward some more

Something must name it
must threaten
must chain it
must strip it
must box it
must shame it inside

Thirsting it bends down
licks moon from a puddle
hungry it leaves
their meat in the trap
feral it looks up
it froth on the muzzle
it shake tail
it streak black
into shadow
no more

Something must scream in the night
under porch steps
in alleys
in basements
in raggedy fields
in brief brutal fighting
in sex from behind

Something must protest 
must stand up
its legs gone beneath it
its teeth busted grinning
in the headlamps last gleaming
in the one eye remaining
before knockout
the quick count
the long blinding miles
it sees into & through it
in the darkness to come
it drags itself off