Lawrence Hall
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poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Pontius Pilate and His Dog
When a man’s worked all day in signing off
On having any number of his fellow men
Imprisoned, flogged, branded, imprisoned, or chained
He’s happy to come home to his good ol’ dog
The master whistles, his happy dog barks
Man and beast in happy concord meet
Playfully tussling in their mutual love
While the servants cringe and cower in fear
What difference if a man executes his brother
As long as he and his dog have each other?
Nov 7, 2021
Nov 7, 2021 at 8:58 AM UTC
Lawrence Hall
[email protected]
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
Pontius Pilate and His Dog
When a man’s worked all day in signing off
On having any number of his fellow men
Imprisoned, flogged, branded, imprisoned, or chained
He’s happy to come home to his good ol’ dog
The master whistles, his happy dog barks
Man and beast in happy concord meet
Playfully tussling in their mutual love
While the servants cringe and cower in fear
What difference if a man executes his brother
As long as he and his dog have each other?
The curious idea of Pontius Pilate having a dog to love is in Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, p. 311 in the Penguin edition. The paragraph is almost as touching as Senator Vest’s courtroom speech, “Tribute to the Dog.”