Watching My Dying Dog Dream

The rope across the chasm between

Care and witness—braided as always by love—

Is frayed to near breaking by the months’

Long struggle to find substitute

For failed hind legs in warrior dog’s

Will that knows neither surrender

Nor retreat.

                    Nor dependence

However dependent she’s become

(Try telling deaf ears to just Rest!)

.

But in a moment’s panting exhaustion

Such rest quietly descends for one

Of us. And warrior dog sleeps

.

If witness could block sight of the

Emaciated hind half, the oozing sores

On hip, side, and lip, the labored

Breathing, the useless legs locked straight

,

Watching would observe this: a

Sleeping dog’s legs engaged in easy

Loping run, limber anew, chasing life

In a realm that knows not death

.

If only witness could share in

This mercy.

.

For Sally, Maggie, Lady

August, 2013 – 2023