facebook image
no copyright infringement intended
no copyright infringement intended
Today's sermon is a blue-eyed wolf dog
who needs to run, but is never let off his leash
because his owner has not trained him,
and is afraid he won't come back;
I long to snap the chain and let his long legs lope
along the shore, and through the forest.
Wild things need to run.
Today's sermon is a confused black puppy,
eight weeks old, who sits down because
his owner is training him too much
and he doesn't know what he is supposed to do.
"No touch, no eye contact," the fool man says.
"It teaches the puppy to be calm."
(It teaches the puppy to be depressed,
quelling that puppy joy that
being a puppy is all about.
I want to abduct the puppy.)
Today's sermon is puppies found abandoned
in dumps, in frozen wastelands, inside tires
and dumpsters; it is the one survivor puppy
found with his litter frozen dead beside him.
Today's sermon is humans who lack humanity,
who think animals don't matter.
Today's sermon is rescued dogs
who approach, with fear and trembling,
but who learn, over time,
that humans can also be kind.
Today's sermon is well-loved dogs
with happy grins, loping along the shore,
and chasing each other in joyous circles.
In a perfect world, every dog
would have a life like that.
I'm dragging grace around
like a rusty wagon,
pretending it's whole,
the poet says.
I'm old. I know some things.
I know what makes children and animals
feel safe and happy.
My penance for living this long
is to watch the heedless young
who think they know more than they know:
yet don't understand how fragile
small and helpless beings are.
I watch them learning everything
it took me so long to learn,
watch them breaking hearts,
including their own.
I'm dragging grace around
like a rusty wagon,
pretending it's whole.
My heart has dents and bruises
on it; such grace as can be found
hasn't got a lot to say.
What good does all this Knowing do,
when only old people, babies and dogs
can hear its sorrowful song?
A poem from 2021. Inspired by "Today's Sermon" by Cheryl Dumesnil, and Wild Writing with Laurie Wagner. The italicized words are Cheryl Dumesnil's.
Will share this with Desperate Poets open link.
Nice to read you again. I have been mostly on FB. It seemed easier in all of life's upheavals over the past four years. And my blogger theme didn't give me my old links to follow, so lost touch without really realizing it! Glad to be here and love your "sermon" today. Got my own rescue cat and dog who give me as much or more than I could ever give them back.
ReplyDeleteSome dogs live in such sadness. Perhaps they do not know that things can be different. I feel sad for the puppy who is over-trained. And for the wolf dog who is never off his leash. I still wish you would have just one more dog!
ReplyDeleteI wish you a young person to teach right, so that if another dog finds you, if it does outlive you, it will have a good home.
ReplyDeleteThe Nephews do things I don't really like. Some of them are fat; one's gone through the mohawk/mullet hair-mess phase. One came to a funeral in her idea of formal attire--tight pink jersey and narrow black skirt slit up above the knee. I look at them, remember what messes my friends and I were at that age, and think they're probably going to turn out just fine.
At least they love and respect animals. If they make mistakes, as I still sometimes do, it'll be mistakes made in love and respect.