each other's pets

I seem to indulge in emotional
heavy petting, quite unintentionally
if not by accident. I enjoy it, you see.
It's pleasurable to stroke a truly
deserving sense of self, like

a good dog!

I don't mean people are dogs, but
you know they just want love. Like
dogs, and I love to give emotional
pets and scratches. It is the law.

If good is its own reward, and it is,
surely to recognize it and reward it
even more is to participate in its
goodness! And if some poor being,

poor thing, is sad, well fuck. It
doesn't take much to restore sense,
connection and well-regard, now

does it? It is its own reward. It goes
beyond need, really. To give what you
don't need yourself at the moment. It fills
some need you didn't have a moment ago.

Until someone did, or maybe they didn't
but away we go. Who thinks of these
things? You just reach out to a being
that pleases you, and you pet, stroke
and hug, and it pleases you. It pleases

them, too. Well, depending on how
you do. We really are

each other's pets, without any loss
to dignity. Each other's favorites, so let's

just lose ourselves this shamelessly.