FLOW WOLF AND DOG GOD
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Description:
My dog Alex was thirteen years old. He developed a dreadful rasping cough and bloody mucous steamed constantly from his nose. He did not respond to anti-biotics or anti fungals and was getting worse and worse. The concensus of veterinary opinion was that he had some sort of cancer in his naso-pharygeal region. Very reluctantly we had him put to sleep. This poem is for my dog, Alex.
FLOW WOLF AND DOG GOD
He was my Flow wolF, running between my horse's hooves, meshed synchronized in gait. I was his Dog goD, his oath holder, healer, hearth keeper, alpha male, human litter mate. We kept the ancient truce, obeyed the pack pact of man and dog, bayed the night watch together against the horrors of the wild wood. Cheek by jowl we howled the hound sound to the hunters' moon, or lazed in the warm summer's afternoon. We walked together in the sunlit day and kept the denizens of the dark at bay, until a rusty coughing nail pierced his throat and the Bark craB came scuttling to throttle him and the nose warbles garbled his growls and blood ran from his sinuses. His hero Dog goD could not prevail against the cancer and the coughing nail. I gave him the mercy blade, the coup de grace, lowered him gently laid upon the yielding grass. The craven raven and the Scoff foX will grin, their grisly undertaking to begin. The Scarab barrackS and the Work croW crews will complete his total dismemberment, return to earth each borrowed element. |
Submitted on 2009-11-15 02:53:08 Terms of Service / Copyright Rules
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| I don't know why this piece touched me so deeply . Probably because I recently had to put my dog down . Dogs have long been our companions . When they are puppies we treat them like our children . When they get older they become like best friends or even siblings . my dog was a hunting companion . We brought down many birds , and although most bird dog hunters would frown upon it , he always got to share in the feast . He was 13 yrs old , and a long time friend but for some reason he bit me severely . I think he must have had a brain tumor . Unfortunately , since I could easily have lost the use of my left hand , plus I have friends with children , I killed him . It hurt so bad . This poem helped me to reminisce in a kinder light and for that I thank you . Bruce | Posted on 2010-12-21 00:00:00 | by monad | [ Reply to This ] | Unfortunately it's late and I lack the time or energy to say more than that I thoroughly enjoyed this. I'm taking it along to my page so that I can enjoy it again in a more awake state. And I'll return soon to read more. | Thanks~C | Posted on 2010-12-10 00:00:00 | by ponykeeper | [ Reply to This ] | I lost my Rudy to cancer last year. We had him cremated and asked that the ashes be given to us so that we could scatter them in the woods where we used to walk him. They came in this plasticky cream basket with plastic flowers and this godawful poem about how our 'pet' was in heaven, our lovely fourfooted friend. It felt like such balls. He was a brother more than anything else. I wish they'd given us this to read. This captures the relationship between man and dog much better. It's stunning. | | Posted on 2010-08-31 00:00:00 | by AlyRose | [ Reply to This ] | We kept the ancient truce, | obeyed the pack pact of man and dog, bayed the night watch together against the horrors of the wild wood. Cheek by jowl we howled the hound sound to the hunters' moon, or lazed in the warm summer's afternoon. Quite magical here, Arthur. | Posted on 2009-11-21 00:00:00 | by Daniel Barlow | [ Reply to This ] | I was very touched by this, and I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. This might sound cliché, but it is true: our pets fill a special place in our hearts, to the point where they are no longer a pet, but a friend, companion, brother. They are loyal friends when people fail; loving, trusting, and unswerving in their devotion. I was touched by how you understood his mentality and saw yourself as part of his pack. Although he might not have been able to say it, Alex appreciated this. In this way and others, humans and dogs are one and the same, and I believe we were meant to be together. Unfortunately, sometimes, that time is all too short. | Second thing I noticed was your wordsmithery. This was very well-done:). There were several different kinds of word-plays here, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. You used rhyme, both in the traditional sense of line-by-line, and also within the lines themselves. I also noticed how you turned words around, and, backwards and forwards, they make total sense. Language is a beautiful and interesting thing. We sometimes forget that there are reasons why words are put together the way they are, and with the group of letters/sounds they contain. It is the combination of semantics and linguistics, words and meanings. Behind all this are the mathematical formulas of life itself. My first exposure to this was years ago, when I had a schizophrenic friend who loved to pull words apart. He and I would have these amazing if disjointed conversations, which, it seemed, only the two of us understood. It was astonishing to me at the time that he could make the pieces of the words make sense together or apart. This is something I'm finding hard to describe, but I know you'll get what I mean. To have a grasp of this is to know and understand the finer nuances of poetry. There are few things in this world that are coincidence, in my humble opinion. This is a beautiful and fitting eulogy to a wonderful friend you will never forget. And I will not forget this poem. soul-hugger | Posted on 2009-11-15 00:00:00 | by Soul-Hugger | [ Reply to This ] | |
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