I watched a dog die today
such a little death -
back from my lunch break, I found her
in the parking lot, tiny and brown and smiling
wet nose to my palm, I scratched her chin
looked for a collar - none - tried to grab her, but
she ran, happy, looking for her family
who must’ve only loved her -
nothing human had ever hurt her before, and maybe
that’s why she ran right up
to the road, looked both ways and
trotted headfirst, unflinching, into
a gray SUV, going 50 down an incline.
she didn’t seem scared
but the sound of her little
body smacking against the plastic
bumper and then, her small brown shape
turned sudden-still and no-longer-smiling
broke up the pavement
now spattered with a streak of
red death.
you think, no - go back, just an instant
earlier, none of this happened - too easy an error,
just a few feet further and
you’d have reached her. she
could still be smiling, in another universe -
such a little thing, life. rare enough
that we cling to it - rarer, but
we ignore the rest.
I stood by the road, screamed
into the artificial wind, only created
by the cars speeding by, too fast
to care about the little things
down here on the ground.
About the Creator
Savannah Sveta
Once in a while, there are words in my head that feel like magic. The rest of the time, I'm just imitating myself.
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Comments (3)
this is excellent, it got sadness, and anger, and happiness and trust. I love that the little dog got to keep its happiness and trust, even though they were dashed.
Poor thing 😢
Oh. so sad. So sorry. Don't worry, doggie is in Doggie Heaven, happy as can be.