I have lain those dogs to rest,

The ones snapping at my heels

Begging me to train them

I have set them free.

I have slain those demons

That were looping into chains

Banished them from my life

Their cries echoing in vain

I ask for no accolades

Those dreams have been interred

No hungers claw at my belly

No masters to be served.

Yet deep in the night comes the moonlight

Whistling through a window in the clouds

I hear the clanking chains I feel the soft refrain

Of the shrug I have adopted like a shroud.