Dread Rituals

To the one wielding the scissors
the word is being groomed. To
the sibling puppies they are doomed.
There is no escape. How much
patience can be expected from two
restless little dogs, eager to egg one
another on to constant mischief?
Submitting to the ritual of grooming
assaults their sensibilities, an act of
sheer perversity forced upon the
poor foundlings. There is no
reward they can recognize in
being 'presentable' since they feel
perfectly presentable always as
they are, dishevelled and content.
For one there is a reward following
the snipping; the bathing ritual, far
more to his liking, in fact reason
for great excitement and expressions
of joyful expectation. For his sister
another ordeal to be suffered, poor
tyke. Doubly so; hating the immersion
and putting up with her brother's
jealous snipes when her turn arrives.
But there, all done, and don't they
look a treat? Puzzled and chagrined
but tidy, belying their inner demons.