Never guilt, but a sort of
bookkeeping sense where guilt would be
if he swung that way, plus pride that
he doesn’t. This emotional
plus is transferred to those he has used
so that he’s perfectly happy
to use them again if needed or if they
beg to be reinstated
and crawl.

But when real danger looms, satisfaction attached to
those non-guilt spots evaporates; the spots
become rage, against whoever put
them there and whatever
new traitors are responsible; he becomes
less forgiving.
Then people who are like him mourn;
those who are like him but more
efficient begin to
find him too difficult.

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