by Jae Baeli

Created on: December 02, 2008

Reproach Beyond a Dog

A soothing ritual, nightly enacted;
a process habitual, rightly exacted:
book on her chest, rum tea on the table
a cigarette lit, it was then she was able to
settle and rest
but for the test of patience
she faced
the mealy-mouthed mutt
with it's yap all agape
she fancied the sight of its muzzle in tape
and conceived small devices
with electrical plugs

that would silence the cur-
(but never worked out the bugs);

and so left with her slow-burning
rage for this hound
she resolved
to take no more of this lying down
she had squirmed and turned
and yearned
to be free of the maddening burn
in her breast
brought on by the pest
of the dog.
A fog
of anger had welled heated,
bubbled, swelled
`til all her thoughts were
zeroed in
on when the dog
would begin again.

She had tried to fashion it into a game
two beats,
four beats
pitch change and range
but the idea that merely a leaf in the wind
could let loose barrages of barking again
was too much to bear.
She saw the man there
through the window upstairs
loading something in boxes,
she couldn't tell
oblivious, deaf
and what the hell
is so tough
about hushing the noise
made by Toby or Fido
or little McGruff
(or whatever his freakin' name was)
she wondered what his game was?
did he wish to drive his neighbors half insane?
(perhaps that was his stealth:
he wanted the street to himself)
like the bother of a grain
of sand in one's shoe?

She wondered who
would blame her for
muting the mutt forevermore?
snatching a jacket
donning her sneaks
she left on a mission resisted for weeks
and weeks without end:
to stifle the vocals
of man's best friend.

Down the drive
and across the street
crept she on her rubber-soled feet
back to the cage
where the wretched dog dwell
heart thumping wildly
hoping like hell
he was ugly and mean
or a sick shade of green
to make the task easier
so to walk away clean.

And there stood the mongrel
his black soupy eyes
in question upon her and
a dubious wag of a bobbed-off tail
betraying a trust
in the hand that could fail
to halt before it struck him.
Low creature meets high
and the two stare awhile
the pup finally sitting
with an ignorant smile
upon his black-furred lips
brown fur at the tips
of its ears
cocking its head and waiting.
hesitating
she squatted down
to study the nemesis closely and found
the hound
was mostly quite cute
and had ceased its cries since
eyes met eyes
and ribs protruding from meatless sides
its bowl overturned in the cage empty
the water basin
dry.

And she knew why
her anger grew so great
for dumb creatures have not the power
to care for
themselves while captive but man
in his mindless state
cares for nothing
save himself
and this was worthy of her anger.
a hand reached out to pat
the pooch through chain-link fence
the change of heart
making sudden sense
and she stood
her heart full of something foreign
and sad
a feeling she knew she should have had
long ago.

A flick of a finger released
the gate
the pup cocked its head confused
at his fate and she smooched
at the pooch and offered a hand
it came over to greet her
entreat her
to be kind
and in her mind
she knew what to do
to solve the dilemma
and reached for the mutt
and held him still
it licked her face as puppies will and
turning she made off
with mongrel in hand
back to her house
for a nice juicy can of
stew and some water
it's all he needed
she thought, and he oughta
be much calmer next door
on a rug on the floor
with a master who loves and adores.

And the puppy was quiet forevermore.

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