Gone Astray

Through woods and weeds and winding roads
we spent the midnight hours
searching all the likely paths
and whistling in the dark
the three familiar chirps
that brought him to our side
for thirteen years.
Called his name but not so loud
the quiet windows heard.
Gravel crunching, tires roll,
flashlights beaming to and fro
as if some prison break occurred.
But in the glair the only signs of life
were the startled glowing eyes
of a cat or coon or ‘possum
traipsing in the night.

By one o'clock, a dreaded thought
broke like an egg in my mind...
For cats and coons and 'possum
too often find their fate
on whining roads by morning light,
and inside dogs who've lost their way
fare even worse it seems.

All this I know too well.
For once before, quite long ago,
I cared... and carried home
a little dog who looked
as if he lie asleep
along the curb,
and such a task can make
a grown man weep
in the corner of a shed
where the shovel leans.

This time, my wife stayed up ‘til four--
calling at the door each time she passed,
and I slept at an open window screen
listening through the night.

At sunrise, I searched again
through woods and weeds--
but especially along the winding roads.
Nothing.

But then at nine from nowhere
he came hobbling to our porch,
eyes begging for an open door,
trembling legs, whimpering sighs,
his white coat--cut and groomed
just five days before--
was muddy and laced in burrs.
Warm soapy water in a tub,
staring eyes, caring hands,
rinsed and patted dry
with whispered soothing scolds
for giving such a fright,
he curled in a blanket on the couch,
and slept from noon to night.

15,333/495W.PM.

Isaiah 53:6  "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

The first picture I took today. The second is from Christmas 2009 and what I used on the Craigslist "Lost and Found" item I posted before going to bed.