Their redolent halitosis irradiates the room,
 yet they take no umbrage at our exaggerated ughs.

Nor do they tire of tedious games or bother with urbanity,
 savoring the insanity of repetitive inanity.

Why we need them near we may never know—
 though I’d guess that all those Fidos and Fifis
 fulfill our fundamental need for unfettered friendship.

If so, I wonder if I, at evolution’s apex—
 who brandishes a bigger brain
 and phantom tail at the tip of my coccyx—
 am capable of love without conditions.

— Lon Roberts