Dog of Sorrows (poem)

Dog of Sorrows

Dog of sorrows

Do you suppose they find you wanting

Panting with your upturned nose

Dripping spittle on the floor…your tongue you can’t

in decency contain

And cleanliness is most

Affecting to the human brain

(I speak, says Mr. Boots, as a keen observer)

It strokes them like a hand

And on their hands and knees I’ve seen them knead

Upon a stain

No, my puppet, it was you they had in mind

When the door was closed

And you were left behind

Afternoon, he sings to her: “Come into the bedroom, dog!

They have forgot to shut us out.”

“Mr. Boots, I have a name.”

“And yet you can’t say what it is.”

“And yet, I know. A song unfolds within me

Like the mother howl, and high above my head

Higher than I can leap (I try and try) she holds the lovely thing

I mean to taste one day when there is time.

And then I understand again, that she has called me what I am.”

“Pah! Time is infinite. Bolt your treats! Myself, I find time there whenever I wake up.

Besides, you’ve never seen her eat those things.”

“Mr. Boots, I won’t come in. You’ve knocked three pots from the windowsill, and broken two.

I smell the dying tortured stems.

You’ve clawed them, and they must have been our…fellows

For I’ve heard her praise them when they bloom.”

“Nameless cairn, I’ve done all for your pleasure.

Dig in the soil

and find a treasure.”

Dog of Sorrows

I Will Inform You

The Goldfish Takes a Watery View

(2019, Stephanie Foster)