Two universes mosey down the street <br />Connected by love and a leash and nothing else. <br />Mostly I look at lamplight through the leaves <br />While he mooches along with tail up and snout down, <br />Getting a secret knowledge through the nose <br />Almost entirely hidden from my sight. <br /> <br />We stand while he's enraptured by a bush <br />Till I can't stand our standing any more <br />And haul him off; for our relationship <br />Is patience balancing to this side tug <br />And that side drag; a pair of symbionts <br />Contented not to think each other's thoughts. <br /> <br />What else we have in common's what he taught, <br />Our interest in shit. We know its every state <br />From steaming fresh through stink to nature's way <br />Of sluicing it downstreet dissolved in rain <br />Or drying it to dust that blows away. <br />We move along the street inspecting shit. <br /> <br />His sense of it is keener far than mine, <br />And only when he finds the place precise <br />He signifies by sniffing urgently <br />And circles thrice about, and squats, and shits, <br />Whereon we both with dignity walk home <br />And just to show who's master I write the poem.<br /><br />Howard Nemerov<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/walking-the-dog/
