I excelled in forgetting my failures—
for I, too, was a mammal, eager for simple happiness,
to be stroked the length of the back, behind the ears.

Distractions: ordinary. Omissions: rampant.
Thinking any of this peculiar to me.

No, I was not distinctive, among my kind.

Showered with pollen, I sneezed.
I ate, and by morning found myself once again hungry.

Jane Hirshfield, “I Was Not, Among My Kind, Distinctive”