I came upon a wolf one day
with eyes of fire and diamond-pelt
the crystallization of deductive logic
like a coat of snowflake swords

His whiskers were syringe-needles
dripping with the vaccine for stupidity
which I think he must have developed
in the laboratory of his moonlit mind

Fear I had of wolves, but some dark fascination,
a death-wish of my heart
bid me to walk awhile with him
and stroke his coat of blades until I bled

and he licked my hands.

But it was with fire, not ice, that he maimed me
at first the little embers, the little burns
the little ****** of something other than pure and peerless truth
that came from inside of him, where the diamonds were not

Your heart, friend wolf
was only a long, deep stretch of feverish despair
and though I would have licked your wounds as you licked mine
you refused to bare them to me and bit me instead.

Fear I had of wolves, once
but now I bear the marks where his diamonds cut
and his fire burned -
a vaccine for stupidity if I ever had one.