Suddenly, a bang
fired, astray in the air
just after eight pm,
when the church bell
tolled for prayers
invoking the restless
dead in purgatory,
my mother halted
her litany of all saints
to uncover, check,
count our bodies still
on the palm mat-
covered wooden floor
cold in August;
I quickly got up
to look for tan Olive
that did not howl,
its usual noise after
a loud gunshot
echoing for a while
as if to remind,
our dog lying
down on the corner
where I placed
a bowl of sour soup,
under its belly
the puppies lining up
for warm licks.

I didn't get
your lick last
on my cheek
or hear you
bark for bye,
but the stare
glassy-eyed
and asking
for revenge
from a child.
I tried peeing
in the steel
bucket used
to fetch water
and then boil
your cut meat
they abused
with salt, but
I just couldn't
make a drip.
The walking
green camou
pants nearby
and the heavy
boots pacing
back and forth
to startle me,
I whimpered,
while the garlic
was burning.

Some weeks after they shot
my father in the face
and my mother in her stomach,
I could feel the joints
of my bones, the ***** popping
in the loose sockets,
all pain, like the ****** of nails,
their rusting in friction.
The same anorexia could be
seen on the scrawny
gait of our dog that had already
forgotten the taste
of fish heads my father grilled
on coconut charcoal,
my mother stewed in vinegar
or I deep-fried to crisp.
Gray, his foreign name, barked
before dashing out
towards the avocado tree not yet
in season, a collision
between a hardwood and a skull,
his body on the ground,
the dimming gaze a quiet begging,
his nod letting me live.

Before, it would lick
that child's mirthful feet
dark brown from playing tag
in the monsoon mud.
When he became
an orphan out of the blue,
the dog licked his baffled face
to stop his weeping.
Now, that same dog
licks the grime and soot
off the child's cheerless hands
after picking scraps.

I like how the wind bristles against your fur
I know it whenever you purr
Your tiny paws are adorable
You're cute even if you get in trouble

I'm excited to go home that night
I expected you'll be there,
waiting for me at the door

You're not the type who smiles
You're not the type that greets "hello, hooman"
But I love you so much

I fill your bowl with treats
hoping you would come back
I leave the door latch open
just in case you go back

My room
is now silent and dark
Nightly, I wept
I can't help but sob,
knowing you're gone

I miss you
Come home

He set a motion that tied the night
with a surge of peace through flight
A walk at pardoned him for this fight
the doorway sought now
as his fortune with the moon!

And a primal scream that retaliated fraught
but down by fairgrounds his doggy run
still furry friends rode in heat,
and they couldn't be sheep in these latitudes that wool adorn
when a caper was a precedent.

If ghosts perched upon the cases
where sprinkles attended from where they stay
but they must defame those breeds
with suggestive wiles they rehearsed.
furthermore their embrace did employ
what dignified lust was another cornflower day

You've got softer these days.
When we met you were fiercer,
propensity to vicious in all your paws
and claws,
but,
now,
you relax in moments
and stretch out full, unafraid and happy in the sun;
love makes me feel secure too,
strong and lit,
ahh my less ferocious domesticated Poppet.

I miss you everyday
Not much as I can say
I love you more than a friend
A love that will never end

I miss you everyday
I miss watching you play
Your happy eyes that speak
Your looks that get me weak

I miss you everyday
I wish you would stay
Now you're in my passenger seat
Thinking we're just going out to eat

This hurts like hell
I have so many things to tell
You're staring at the window
My tears start to get shallow

This hurts like hell
I can't let go, my sweet Belle
You look at me with a smile in you eyes
But I know the pain in disguise.

This hurts like hell
Catching you every time you fell
You were with me all these years
But we have to let go of our fears

I can't watch you die
All i can do is cry
I drop you off by the vet,
Telling you "You'll always be my favorite pet."

I can't watch you die
But they told me to give it a try
It will end your pain and mine
What a way to end the life of a canine

I can't watch you die
I let out a heavy sigh
I saw you release your final breath
I closed my eyes and accepted your death