The Black Panther.

I have a panther, a sleek, black panther. It is not a black dog, oh no. I also have a black dog that slinks into my life, tail between its woe-is-me, quivering, shaky legs. It whimpers and whines, pitifully pawing until it draws me down to the floor to sit in an empathetic haze of misery for hours, days or even weeks. 

No, this is a creature of far greater ferocity. Sometimes it lies sleeping, content to rest camouflaged by the shadows of life.

 

Until injustice, discrimination, or the pure evil which seeps from the internally putrid will awaken it from its slumber with an almighty roar. Rousing it from a supine sprawl to stir, wanting, craving to pounce. Yes, my midnight shadow is an animal of black fury, justice and retribution. It is full of fire and fight, ferociously fierce in its defence of all those beloved in my heart. It leaps with rippling rage into my head from the slightest of provocation, willing me to release it to tear, mame, and shred with powerful, unforgiving, dark, dripping jaws.

I am forced to hold the leash tight, restraining my animal lest it do irreparable damage, keep it caged until all other options are depleted. And then, only then do I unclip the collar and finally permit those who transgress to feel the hot panther breath enveloping them as they face the big cat in full attack.

When Lori wrote of the battle to break with her black dog it struck home, and roused me to post of my dark creature. For whilst her black dog, like so many, is full of pain and bleakness, my midnight brute resonates with wrath and suppressed violence. Held in check by small, slender bars of logic, attempting to contain this living instrument of restitution.

Those held locked in my black panther's dark, steady gaze need to be afraid. Be very afraid.