Alienation

I expected it — I was notified

I accepted it — aware and clear-eyed

Therefrom came the scheduled rendezvous

My Star Caller, punctual, followed through

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As ethereal, mega-headed, and telepathic

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In agreement with my intuition

It accepted my precondition

It would not communicate

Or otherwise concentrate

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With anyone else extrasensorate

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Lest a whirlwind of complex humanity

Confound it in cultures contradictory

I needed to break it in gently

To the foibles of mankind's assembly

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And risk not, tragically, alienate

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I considered first contact, at least,

With a rabbi, an imam, or priest

But even that could involve trysts

Of subtly misread, misunderstood risks

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Simple mistakes incompatibly mutate

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No, I needed to go even humbler

Lest make the usual human blunder

Of solipsistic hubris, misassumption,

Leading our summit to fruitless disjunction

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Essential to avoid the ill-passionate

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Who should I deem it meet

To avoid our unavoidable conceit?

Who, from it, should we dutifully hide,

Those it couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't abide?

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The very same saboteurs who pontificate

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Where are the Kings, Mother Theresas, and Ghandis

And the Mandelas we ideally embrace so fondly

When sidestepping the ubiquitous, quotidian cruelties

That the rest of us wear so proudly as jewelry?

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The deceit, invectives, and racism used to subjugate

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It turns out I met it, impotently, to befriend us

But with no one I trusted to fairly represent us

Until there appeared a proxy enchanted

Who was always there but taken for granted

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Man's best friend, incarnate

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He greeted the being satisfactory

With wagging inquiries olfactory

Opened its mouth to invite it

And have faith his jowls wouldn't bite it

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More than enough to appreciate

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This oral seduction inviting to trust

Between dog and Star Caller was decisively sussed

Giving the gentle but powerful canine

The benefit of the doubt without reading his mind

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Neither a biting-the-hand-that-feeds-it correlate

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"For surely," said Star Caller, "this gentle sentience

Could tear my flesh apart in temperamental violence.

But taking my limb so softly, with such teeth

Dignifies sweet innocence underneath."

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Host and guest forged a whole world's fate

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"I've seen enough," concluded Star Caller.

"How can I wreck a planet that's smaller

Than the love such a creature has for its friend

And who will live for him till the very end?"

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Without judgment, scoring, or debate

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Star Caller returned to the skies, aimed at his Sun

To report back to those whence he had come

En route called, but once, via quantum transmitter

To put down a deposit for the pick of the litter

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