Focus

How many licks does it take to 
get the middle to shear
from a dewclaw? 

Sunny knows.
Soak the keratin long,
insistent tongue,
he knows his
housekeepers
have neglected their charge.

By the time he has reached
that uncountable thousandth
teeth are vestigial to this
biting task.

And so I unshelve the clippers
hold the unshorn paw in mine
and prevent another self-removal
of that higher higher tine.