The Beast

Its feet leave tracks of oozing slime
On rocks and fractured stone,
While at its side gnarled fingers clench,
Hungry for blood and stone.

Atop a body squat and scaled
There sits a nightmare head,
With slitted eyes and drooling mouth
That reeks of things long dead.

To us a beast, a ghastly dream,
And yet to other eyes
It may be Beauty's very self,
And we the thing despised.

Does the wart hog think us lovely?
Does the lion admire our grace?
Do the frogs and cane toads swarm
Just to gaze upon Man's face?

The Eye of the Beholder
Is not limited to Man.
It takes in every species
In a vast galactic span.

So when at last we venture out
To chart the Universe,
Remember that the beast you fear
May find YOU even worse!!

by Dorothy Boyd.


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