Someone in a dream gave me a gun.
Five seconds, a dog, and a man.
Asked me to shoot either the man or the dog.
I shot the dog, paws nestling on my knees.

When I walk at night,
my mom tells me to watch for strange men.
Sometimes, I come across a dog,
paws wet with snow,
the man yielding it lurching back.
Men do not love easy like dogs do.
They have their standards, or their mothers,
but dogs only need five seconds.