Poem for Max

Little (God's) Creature
by Samuel Hazo

"Do you know what love is? Get a dog."
- Mona Van Duyn

Simply by lying down and being
dog, he demonstrates how
satisfaction differs from fulfillment.
Oscar's fulfilled.

Without
a clock he knows the time
of night, of year, of age.
...

What makes me love this pooch...?
...Is it
because he pays attention
and accepts contentment as life's
best reward?
Is it because
he thinks precisely with his nose
and chats concisely with his tail?
Or is it just his irreplaceability?
Each night he lies beside me
while I read

In dog's arithmetic
he's half my age, but catching up...
How innocent he is of malice,
treachery, impatience, envy
and the fear of death.

I read.
He sleeps.
We share mortality
in silence, breath by breath.