Love Song

The Love Song of K. Alfred Doggie

LET us go then, dog and I,
When the evening is sprinting against the sky
Like a patient hugging the curb about to go down;
Let us go, through certain potholed streets,
The mutts calling to us
Of restless nights of rubbing elbows in the pack
And dustbowl trails with baby-heads:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of dog-sidious intent
To lead k-dog to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go to the barber shop.

The yellow dog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow dog that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

--Liz and Art with lots of help from T.S. Eliot