If you could be an animal,
what kind of animal
would you be?

I would choose to be an human,
proud and willingly.

But of several kinds of animals,
what class of animal
would you be?

There is only one desirable,
the human family.

But if you had to be an animal,
what sort of animal
would you be?

A conscious human being,
the sort who feels and thinks and sees.

But of exotic breeds of animals,
what breed of animal
would you be?

I would be a person,
because a person knows he's he.

But if you could be an animal,
why a man at all
would you be?

I would be an human,
because an human mind is free.

But if you could be an animal,
why a human animal
would you be?

Because in the presence of a mirror,
an human doesn't flee.

But if you could be an animal,
could fly or crawl,
to the heights of the sky,
or on the bottom of the sea,
what type of animal would you be?

I would be myself,
a type identical to me.

-Jonathan D. Kirzner
Aware
by Jonathan D. Kirzner