to Laika <br /> <br /> <br />So first the faithful dog will go <br />and after it a pig or ass <br />through the black grass will beat a track <br />along it will the first man steal <br />who with iron hand will smother <br />on his glass brow a drop of fear <br /> <br /> <br />so first the dog honest mongrel <br />which has never abandoned us <br />dreaming of earthly lamps and bones <br />will fall asleep in its whirling kennel <br />its warm blood boiling drying away <br /> <br /> <br />but we behind the dog and second <br />dog which guides us on a leash <br />we with the astronauts’ white cane <br />awkwardly we bump into stars <br />we see nothing we hear nothing <br />we beat with our fists on the dark ether <br />on all the wavelengths is a whining <br /> <br /> <br />everything we can carry on board <br />through the cinders of dark worlds <br />name of man scent of apple <br />acorn of sound quarter of colour <br />should all be saved for our return <br />so we can find the route in an instant <br />when the blind dog leading us <br />barks at the earth as at the moon<br /><br />Zbigniew Herbert<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/first-the-dog/
