Manimals

I took a few steps back,
In the progress of my mind.
I thought it'd be quaint,
to regress, I thought I'd
be kind.

Pity leaves a sour taste,
What's there?  Some lesson,
Some reason, a waste?
A Waste.
It's of no consequence.
I felt a failure at conversing,
My muscles were kicking
And screaming, the sitch was
Tense.

He couldn't tell,
I faked it well.
A piece, the piece that I trapped,
I could feel the drain,
Palpable was the collapse.

The Manimals are coming,
They're already here,
He, Him, They, it,
No matter my rejection,
He is near and he is no fit.

This is all, this is life,
No dress-ups, no resets,
I want the strife.
Between this and nothing,
I choose this;  Yet I am
remiss to trade integrity
for imitation.

Floundering, I knew my act,
I put it on, He ate it up,
I sacrificed my tact,
He couldn't get enough.

His eyes and mine hardly met,
He spoke much and said not,
I want someone to get,
What purposeless time is spent,
Talking much and saying little,
Is a worse fate for me then
Death.