Doggerrel

DOGGEREL

Alone he came through swirling mist

In coat of gold with heart so sore.

Who knows what drove his single quest

He, clear of eye and firm of jaw.

Who trod his path at dark of night,

To the house where burned the welcome light.

The weary traveller to the open door,

To the comfort of that threadbare floor,

They knew him by his mystic paw

Twas Ben the psychic labrador.

Perhaps a Pharoe from the flowing Nile

Long since embalmed to rest in grace

Or an Inca from a city high

On mountain top 'twixt earth and space.

How far he'd travelled no one knew

Some claimed he was a dog who flew

Some claimed the wisdom of his eyes

Belied his canine shape and size

While some just gazed in silent awe

On Ben the psychic labrador.

Maybe a dog or maybe ... what?

A force whose heart beat echoes love?

A soul that burns with healing heat?

Why now a dog and not a dove?

But this spirit hound from the astral shore

This warrior from the cosmic war

Who wagged his tail by the open door

Found speculation quite a bore.

He'd come to walk the earth once more

As Ben the psychic labrador.

Walkies

©  Patrick Ellis