Over the wide field
the dark deer went running,
five dogs screaming
at his flanks,
and his heels,
my own two darlings
among them
lunging and buckling
with desire
as they leaped
for the throat
as they tried
and tried again
to bring him down...
At the lake
the deer plunged...
he clambered
up the far shore.
The dogs
moaned and screeched
they flung themselves
on the grass
panting and steaming.
It took hours
but finally...
they woke
from fitful naps
they stepped
in their old good natures
toward us
look look
into their eyes...
here is such happiness when you speak their names!
here is such unforced loved!
here is such shyness such courage!
here is the shining rudimentary soul
here is hope retching, the world as it is
here is the black the red the bottomless pool
I have heard countless stories spoken in regretful tones from others who speak about the killing their dogs have done. Mild mannered and love-giving companions turn into frenzied packs and kill other dogs and cats in the home, not to mention the unsuspecting prey in neighborhoods, fields, and wild places. Knowing the nature of dogs I wonder why then people keep them, for they can do so much harm to what you love and what is beautiful. Their wildness cannot be easily tamed. Maybe the humans aren't trying hard enough. Maybe, just maybe, we relish their wildness and somewhere in our co-evolved human/dog DNA we don't want them to quit hunting - for their hunting is our hunting. We recall when we ran to survive, and this confused does not die easily. We look into their eyes and see reflected back how hard hope is to come by when love lives so easily with violence.
Where or to whom do you love, and yet also turn from?
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