Buddy Tie 'm



Wind blowing hard

Dogs yap in yards

Waves rippling fast

Storm didn't last ...



Neighbor dog follow'd

All through the hollow

A friendly spaniel pup

Buddy is always "up"



Stopped at beach ...

With one dog leashed

Sat on wooden chair

Stared way out there



Suddenly, Buddy jump'd

Right up on my front ...

Trying to lick my face

His weight against my space



Chair collapsed under 

Dog and I both blunder

His force and my imbalance

Combined to mar talents



Picked up the broken pieces

Placed them in the bin neatly

Leashed my own dog, then ...

And called our new friend ...



Started to walk back uphill

Not seeing the desertion till ...

Looked back along the lane

Buddy was hiding in vain ...



Called and called him to come

But our new friend was numb

Found a phone cable lying there

Pulled it out from the weeds, spare



We walked back along the lane ...

Buddy saw us, and then he came

Attach'd the cable to his choke chain

Tied it in two places - not the same

 

Then we walked the rest of the way

Buddy, mine, and a twenty-foot stray

It was as though he was free to roam

But he couldn't wander on alone ...



Finally, we turned onto the street above

The two dogs, me ... and a cable, in glove

Made it halfway down the connecting road

Then a familiar car stopped near our toes



Buddy's mistress had come a-looking

Driving around in circles and cooking

... Up a storm about her missing pet

Not seeming to care I was his best bet



For, had I not attached him with cable

He could've been a target for cars unable

To stop ... and perhaps - lost his life

A friendly dog ... who's always so nice ... 



I informed her I'd planned on driving him back

Just as soon as we made it to my chimney stack

Which would have happened in just a few minutes

But her excursion had shortcutted that finish



She'd been worried he may have gotten hit ...

So had driven around, searching for a bit ...

As she untied the phone cable from the chain

Turning to me, she tried to give back the rein



But I resisted, and showed her the end I held

Which had some ground stakes there impaled

I pointed them out, said they could be inserted

Into the ground in her yard, thus to short-circuit



Any wandering of her friendly pup in the future

For the cable was strong, and the stakes mature

So she wrapped the cable in a loop in her hands

And threw it in behind the dog - a very good plan ...



I waved, then, as she drove off down the road

Pleased I'd done a good deed, at my abode

Protecting a young pup from a potential disaster

Befriending him, and acting as a temporary master

 

- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

9:35pm Tues. Jan. 11th, 2000