Living Elegy For Henry’s Dog

Henry’s dog is getting old,
he’s deaf & dumb & just a crumb
of what he used to be.

His bark & bite were just as worst,
he’d gallop across the fields
as far away as stars,

there wasn’t much he couldn’t do,
jump in the lake,
wrestle with snakes,

about the only thing he couldn’t do was lie.
And, now? Now he trips
over his own water bowl,

he bumps into doors and walls
and perhaps the saddest part: he’s canine,
he ain’t got nine lives