If you want to see what real honesty is
look no further than the dog.
The dog doesn’t give a damn for looking good.

but wil hunch the leg of the Queen’s mother
if it feels like it. The dog
doesn’t care what the hell you think. It will

lick its balls in the presence of the Pope
if that is what it has a mind to do.
The dog does not stand on position, power,

wealth or fame of any kind. He will
bite the rump of the Emperor if he
tries to pick up the dog’s food; the dog

will lift its leg on the whitewall tire
of the Prime Minister’s limousine or
shit on the Dailai Lama’s prayer rug

because he is a dog and that
is what dogs do and
in some secret uncorrupted part of the self

we admire this honesty in dogs, because
we see it is absent in ourselves and
we know that such honesty

comes with a terrible price in this world.

–Red Hawk, Wreckage With A Beating Heart