SHAME

Shame, 'tis but a path
A path of failure I tread
Shame, a sign away.

My feet are heavy
Each step takes a hefty toll
A toll on my soul.

The path of failure is not dark.  It is lit with the most glamorous lighting.
The path of failure is not a maze.  It is a straight path with no obstacles in sight.
The path of failure is tiled with new bricks.  But it is within a glass structure like a greenhouse.
Beyond the glass on the side are grass fields.  Nicely trimmed and green, no weeds nor pests. 
A true spectacle are the grass fields!
But the glass prevents those who walk on the path from reaching the grass.
With no end in sight, one takes the walk of shame.
At first, the walk seems normal, nothing perculiar.
As the sun's heat is captured and stored in the glass structure, the walk begins to feel heavy.
The heat makes one's limbs ten times more heavy.
The heat makes one's breath ten times more dense.
The heat makes one's steps a hundred times more difficult!
So it begins; the walk of shame.
And this is but the beginning.
Thankfully, humans are adaptive, versatile, and strong.
Soon the heat becomes ambient, it is background.
Strength returns to steps!
Pace returns to breaths!
Vigor returns to limbs!
The walk is easy now.
The walk is conquered now!
And now we have time to think.
To think!
Yes, it is time to reflect,
Reflect good.
You just got used to the walk of shame.
You got used to the path of failure.
You forgot about the grass on the other side.

Little Red Riding Hood

Why? WHY? YOU DARE ASK ME WHY?  Oh, I will tell you why, you fool, I will tell you why.  Six years ago, you humans began to invade our forest.  At first they came with just axes and shovels.  A tree chopped here, a tree chopped there.  It was nothing we haven't seen before.  But then one day it all changed.  Bulldozers.  You humans brought in bulldozers!  Over night entire sections of the forest diminished and just like that our preys fled the forest or died at their former homes.  Those who survived branched off.  We split apart.  Some couldn't abandon their homes, others saw their survival beyond the forest.  My father decided to stay.  After all this was where his wife died, this was where his father was born and his father and his father and his father.  Five days.  My father and I went on five days without food, without our pack.  My father was proud.  Proud to be a predator.  He always taught me to be tough.  He taught me the rules of the forest.  The rules of the hunt.  The number one rule, never go after the young always go for the oldest ones and only the oldest ones for they have finished their task in life.  The second rule, never go after those who are stronger than you.  But those rules didn't matter.  We didn't see any living thing we could eat for five days.  And then, we saw you.  Oh yes, I remember the glimmer in my eyes when we saw you, helpless little girl, how we could finally feast on flesh; raw, sweet flesh.  Oh I could taste your tender thighs, your smooth cheeks, your supple arms.  My father, he could sense my hunger and so he told me to stand aside.  He walked up to the little girl.  You, with your little basket and your little red hood, stood unfazed before my father.  I could hardly hold my laughter in when I knew my father was about to slaughter you.  But then you, you... YOU WITCH.  You held out your arms and said to my father: "Hug."  At that instant, I knew you were a goner, I was about to eat you.  But oh how terribly wrong I was.  My father knelt down and hugged you.  MY FATHER.  He never hugged me even once!  Be tough he says, be proud he says.  HE HUGGED YOU, ONE OF THEM, THE PEOPLE WHO DESTROYED OUR FOREST.  Did you have any idea the rage, the confusion, the sadness, the despair, the disappointment I felt at that moment?! DO YOU?  No, of course not, you are a human.  When you left, my father came back and said to me.  "We must not break the rules of the hunt."  SCREW THE RULES, your kind destroyed us.  I couldn't stand the hunger anymore.  And so that night when my father was asleep.  I snuck away and followed the trail you went.  And what did I see?  A sweet old lady, sitting in front of her house.  HA!  Just my luck.  Respect the rules of the hunt?  FINE.  I, will.  I ran towards the lady, your grandma, but everything happened so suddenly.  Suddenly from behind, something grabbed me and flung me to his arms and with me in his arms he ran back, back into the darkness of the forest.  I couldn't see anything.  But as I was being pulled back, I heard a loud bang.  I smelled the smoke in the air; gunpowder.  And the next thing I knew my father, bleeding profusely, put me down by a tree.
"Always.. respect the rules.. my boy."  My father patted my head.  He could no longer stand.  But I did follow the rules!  I went after the old!  WHY!  WHY!  ARGH!!!!!!!!!!! 

I couldn't forgive you, I couldn't forgive your grandma.  So the next day, right when she got out of bed, I struck.  I snapped her head in half.  HA!  How fragile she was.  How small her nose was.  How shivered her face was.  Oh, how sweet her scream of pain was.  Delicious.  But that is not over.  I could not forgive you.  And so everyday, I waited.  You humans destroyed my old home but no matter.  You could not destroy the entire forest.  No, and so six years.  I waited.  Sometimes days go by without a new prey.  But no matter.  I knew if I waited long enough, one day you WILL return.  And today.  You.  Did.

The wolf let out a big smile as he launched himself at little red riding hood.  But she was crying no more.  She dodged the wolf causing him to fall down.  As he turned his face back, his eyes filled with anger.  But his gaze quickly shifted from one of rage to one of fear.  Fear and understanding.  He finally knew what his father meant by respecting the rules.  He had been arrogant all along.  It was not that his father didn't want to kill her but he couldn't.  He was respecting the rules of the hunt.  This was what his father meant.  As the wolf stared in the little girl's gun barrel.  It was all too clear.  He did violate a rule that night; "never go after those who are stronger than you."  And without a shred of compassion for this beast, mankind stands triumphant as the girl stands dominant over nature.