It's so gratifying to realize that
I don't care what you're up to
Post-deluge-of-Dilaudid. Or
Adder-all-outta-luck
Where the beige meets the blue, and
The cat's smelling flowers, and
We're squished in this chair, here,
But you don't give a ****.

This was supposed to be the
Maiden voyage of
The S.S. Dog-Staying-Home-Alone
But, instead, familiar
Anxious chills, and shaky
Hands, and aching bones...

Hell, Baltimore is burning, whilst
Nepal just falls apart.
Sun beams, young, and up-and-coming,
Never getting called to start.

Does the wind smell
So sickly, did it die?
With the rest of me?
Is this that "long-count to thirty?"
Am I being too wordy?

"Stop rhyming, we need to drink."

Old snow
with some life
left to it
rearranges itself
outside: circling
like a thin
white dog.
Finding a spot
out of the wind,
it settles.

Here by the hearth
where my dog curled
for so many years,
his apparition appears
then melts.

The Tall One, they taunt me
They leave me to die
Forced from my shelter
To rot here outside

Food? Less than scarce
Water can't be found
Can't even search
Hard grey dirt covers ground

The Tall One has left
Fear I won't see them again
My anguish is deep
I howl in pain

But what's this I see
Through strange clear wall?
Tall One with food and water
Coming down hall!

I never been so scared!
Hurray! I am saved!
Don't leave me again Tall One
Or I'll wind up in grave

I sat down to a puzzle
When my dog came for a nuzzle
And I gave a small scratch behind the ears
I moved on to the telly
And he lay down on my belly
And we both fell fast asleep after two beers

It seems while I was dreaming
That I heard somebody screaming
It was just an advert on tv
The dog got down real quickly
I thought he might be sickly
It turns out that he only had to ***

I went back to watch footy
And then some "sweep and sooty"
Then the wife came in and asked me where's the dog
I said he's out the back dear
All is fine, no need to fret dear
"Then why is he there chewing on a frog?"

I said I knew no reason
I didn't know frogs were in season
And I went outside to go wash out his mouth
He didn't like the feeling
In fact he was reaching for the ceiling
And that is just the time that things went south

He chose right then to *****
It came up just like a comet
The beer, a bone, and two thirds of a frog
I knew that he felt better
My dumb old Irish setter
This is just a day of living with a dog

I was raised with a king, a grey moon on a black sky was his standard and his proud kingdom was 4 houses
He went alone and proud into the dark
I met a wild dark storm, a killer with a soft spot, magic in his eyes, courage in his teeth.  He is still in the woods, he belongs with the trees
His mother has a quiet dignity, she spends are days in timid quiet repose, yielding food to her wild son and giving love softly
I held spun gold, eyes the color of the sun on water.  A lover who expected nothing, fierce but kind, always ready for a new friend.  
Death cheated and snuck up on you when you were young and asleep

Yeshua was a young lad too,
Returned to Nazareth
When he was two,
Back from Egypt,
What a trip,
With a sib or two;
Riding on  the family mule.

Back at home he turned three,
So Mom invited family
To celebrate with bread and tea.
Great Auntie Liz
Gave him a teddy,
Larger than life,
He named it Zeydy.
To watch him lug it
Was pure pathos,
You'd think he dragged
A ten foot cross.

Two years later, he turned five,
Just learning guilt and how to shrive.
Brother Andrew gave him a frog,
That croaked aloud in synagogue.
So they cast him out:
A fitting
Prologue.

But the weirdest pet
For him to get
Was given at the age of eight.
Sister Martha gave a snake.
Yeshua named him Lucifer,
A Proper Name,
For an improper adder.
His crawling, slithering creepy looks
Often found him underfoot,
And crushed one day by ardent error,
So they cooked him on an open fire.

His favourite pet,
A ***** named Mary,
Would wag her tail
When he came home
From wondrous miracles
And lengthy sermons.
Mary never left his side,
She licked his feet
Until he died.

Now the Pope
Has decreed,
All our pets,
All the breeds,
Are welcome to eternal bliss
With  their master
And mistress.
There's a pet door
In the pearly gates,
For dogs, frogs
And holy cows;
Even Lucifer's
Back there now.

Last night I woke up in a cold sweat.
I dreamed of a boy holding a dog.
She was dying,
and he wouldn't let anyone near her.
Because she was his dog,
and he was her boy.
When the other dogs came sniffing,
the boy pushed them away.
When his brother came smiling,
the boy hit him.
When his mother came calling,
the boy screamed at her.
And the dog shook,
and took ragged little breaths,
and then she stopped.
And the boy cried.
He cried so hard.
I don't remember crying like that.