Brute Beasts (Barzelletta)

We are a composite and so

Greater than the brute animal

We are a rational mammal

Of body and soul, this we know.

The size of an almond, some think,

Our amygdala is to blame;

The seat of our bias, poison ink,

And where our fears lie, less than tame.

Neuroplasticity, proclaim

The world’s learned, both friend and foe,

We are a rational mammal!

Of body and Soul, this we know.

Less we believe but in a blink,

Let it dominate, all the same,

To the precipice, to the brink

We’d go, playing a blindfold game,

With people seeking pow’r and fame,

And run like beasts from whip and whoa.

We are a composite and so

Greater than the brute animal.

Gary Edward Geraci