Choosing a Dog

Chosing a Dog


"It's love," they say. You touch
the right one and a whole half
of the universe wakes up, a new half.

Some people never find
that half, or they neglect it,
or trade it for money
or success
and it dies.

The faces of big dogs tell,
over the years,
that size is a burden:
you enjoy it for awhile
but the maintenance gets to you.

When I get old I think I'll keep,
not a little dog,
but a serious dog
for the casual, drop-in criminal--

My kind of dog, unimpressed by
dress or manner, just knowing
who's really there by the smell.

Your good dogs,
some things that they hear
they don't really want you to know--
it's too grim or ethereal.

And sometimes when they look
into the fire they see
time going on and someone alone,
but they don't say anything.


William Stafford

Posted over on William Stafford Broadsides