The long tearful wail of a siren,
distant in the static black night,
pierces the thick silence
of dim dirt roads
and misty pastures.
An old dog mistakes the sound
for the cry of his own.
He howls forlornly into the darkness,
only a numb stillness rings back,
an intolerable sound of its own.
He lays a heavy head down
to dream of warm fields of wheat
where he chases the white tail of a rabbit,
until it is finally clenched between his jaws.