The old dog
lay in the porch shadows
all day long
all Summer long
barely moving

except to piss and shit
just out where
the grass used to grow
before he got too old
to get any farther away
like down by the tree line,

where a long time ago
he'd get lost in the smells
and bugs and anything that made noise
and forget to go at all
back in the day
when its teeth were sharp
and everything
wondrous.

There were children here then,
and they'd wander down to the trestle
to watch trains pass by
heading for wherever they go
full of corn and automobiles.

The dog didn't know anything
about that, but went along just the same
to chase sticks and birds,
moving fast and wild
with the pack.

Afterwards every time
bone dead exhausted and filthy
they'd sprawl out in the shade
for a few hours before supper,
though the energy came back pretty quick

not like now
where there aren't
any children at all
and the dog was tired
all the time and just lay there.

They'll put him down
before the next snow,
probably after the kidneys quit working right,

and everyone will talk
about how he'd been such a good dog
and just wouldn't be happy
having to live like that,
what with the pills and treatments.

The trains still go by
all day
all night
Summer or not.

The dog can't hear them anymore,
and lives on memory
more then whatever this is now,

which isn't much
and hasn't been
for a very very
long time.

And the only way
he runs at all
is in dreams,
where his tired stiff legs
still move

like a puppy's.