You would run through fields of mommy’s flowers
Stallion legs ripping the air; a horse, a cat, a hare.
Fervently, we wished to contain you, two children
Racing through barb-wired fences and backdoors
Cornering and beseeching, crying out your name
Tuffy! Come home! tutting and whistling in the sun.
We pelted the tin roof with pebbles, clever imitations
Of langoors wreaking havoc, frolicking atop our heads;
So you were summoned, securing the perimeter.
Comically with a bark that made you seem bigger-
Mightily you fought the lizard with the whiplash tail.
By day, conducting clandestine business and like a miner
Coming back with ***** paws and a hunger for supper.
In our compost pit, you gave birth to 6 babies-
Your placenta on the bathroom floor for each came
With a shriek and motherly refrain, your bed divided
Among 7, the black one died before two dawns.
The rest went with the unit shipments and you were with
Your cradle empty, the untethered child once more.
You ran miles with dad, reeling out like a kite in a storm
Always pulling towards freedom or the scent of mother.
In another new house, scared to walk the hardwood floors.
Little paws screeching, pup in the carton box again.
And yet lithe as a cat, lying in wait for the languid pigeons
We found their warm bodies in the terrace, and your
Mouth, full of sugar and tail so conspicuously constrained.
Always running towards danger, those neighbourhood dogs
Roughed you up pretty good, a visceral scream and your blood-
You shook like you had never before and still barked at cobras
The size of little children, much bigger than you, so vicious.
We took you to CI ops, uphill walks in pouring rain,
I saw you descend the mountains with the mist and
For hours we lay in the winter sun staving off the cold-
Your white fur lined with burrs and yellow grass, your pink
Paws gleaming and ears always like a sail at full mast.
You had grown skeletal with a protruding leg
A 14 year old dog, a cat dog, an agile hunter dog
I see your picture in my mind, the sleeping one
In which you were really dead, in your round blue bed
mommy says it was me you came to see then,
I saw you running like old days with your tumored leg
What sorcery, what miracle I thought, what joy
To have you back, ***** and span,
And you were lost to us running and running.
I came back to find you sleeping coiled up like always
Next to mommy’s bed so peaceful and when I came to
She had called to tell us you were no more.
WIth your white hair, your ear medication still here
Somberly they buried you in salt and rose petals
But you looked asleep like you haven’t been in ages
Free from the midnight bouts of asphyxia and snoring
She resents you left her without warning, but I wonder
If after all this time, you finally could run free -well
We keep your bed in the sun and your bowl in the kitchen
The backdoor stays open, for you were lost so often
But you came back, always you came back Tuff Puff.
Apr 5
Apr 5, 2026 at 12:36 PM UTC
You would run through fields of mommy’s flowers
Stallion legs ripping the air; a horse, a cat, a hare.
Fervently, we wished to contain you, two children
Racing through barb-wired fences and backdoors
Cornering and beseeching, crying out your name
Tuffy! Come home! tutting and whistling in the sun.
We pelted the tin roof with pebbles, clever imitations
Of langoors wreaking havoc, frolicking atop our heads;
So you were summoned, securing the perimeter.
Comically with a bark that made you seem bigger-
Mightily you fought the lizard with the whiplash tail.
By day, conducting clandestine business and like a miner
Coming back with ***** paws and a hunger for supper.
In our compost pit, you gave birth to 6 babies-
Your placenta on the bathroom floor for each came
With a shriek and motherly refrain, your bed divided
Among 7, the black one died before two dawns.
The rest went with the unit shipments and you were with
Your cradle empty, the untethered child once more.
You ran miles with dad, reeling out like a kite in a storm
Always pulling towards freedom or the scent of mother.
In another new house, scared to walk the hardwood floors.
Little paws screeching, pup in the carton box again.
And yet lithe as a cat, lying in wait for the languid pigeons
We found their warm bodies in the terrace, and your
Mouth, full of sugar and tail so conspicuously constrained.
Always running towards danger, those neighbourhood dogs
Roughed you up pretty good, a visceral scream and your blood-
You shook like you had never before and still barked at cobras
The size of little children, much bigger than you, so vicious.
We took you to CI ops, uphill walks in pouring rain,
I saw you descend the mountains with the mist and
For hours we lay in the winter sun staving off the cold-
Your white fur lined with burrs and yellow grass, your pink
Paws gleaming and ears always like a sail at full mast.
You had grown skeletal with a protruding leg
A 14 year old dog, a cat dog, an agile hunter dog
I see your picture in my mind, the sleeping one
In which you were really dead, in your round blue bed
mommy says it was me you came to see then,
I saw you running like old days with your tumored leg
What sorcery, what miracle I thought, what joy
To have you back, ***** and span,
And you were lost to us running and running.
I came back to find you sleeping coiled up like always
Next to mommy’s bed so peaceful and when I came to
She had called to tell us you were no more.
WIth your white hair, your ear medication still here
Somberly they buried you in salt and rose petals
But you looked asleep like you haven’t been in ages
Free from the midnight bouts of asphyxia and snoring
She resents you left her without warning, but I wonder
If after all this time, you finally could run free -well
We keep your bed in the sun and your bowl in the kitchen
The backdoor stays open, for you were lost so often
But you came back, always you came back Tuff Puff.
I wrote this for my old dog who died recenty, it's to remember life as it was for her, so full of mischief and constant motion. It is hard to imagine a dog could live a much fuller life than most people ever would.