Thin Disguise
The scene unfolds before my eyes,
just past the crest of a small hill.
I realize that I’m soon to be
a witness to a tragic kill.
A little white Chihuahua dog
emerges from the trailer park.
She’s following a blue car out;
she has yappy little bark.
She cannot gain the driver’s ear;
the girl is talking on the phone.
I want to scream, to shout alarm.
The dog needs help, but there is none.
I pass the scene, look for a turn,
a break to swing the car around.
I’m quickly back to where she is,
only to watch the white dog bound
Along beside the car into
the highway and the median;
she’s barking still; the girl won’t see.
I fling the door and start to run.
The girl drives off, now just the dog
is standing there, right in the gap.
I’m on the ground, I plead with her
to get her to come to my lap.
She’s terrified and shaking hard,
so close and then to dart away.
The cars and trucks are whizzing by;
I beg, I plead, I even pray.
A moving truck then crests the hill
just as she darts back to the park.
I stand, I try to wave them off.
Her chances: bleak; her terror: stark.
They see me, brake, the slightest pause,
enough to watch her safe across.
I get back in my car and leave,
just thankful that there was no loss.
A few brief moments, all it took
to play slow motion ‘fore my eyes.
The stuff of which nightmares are made;
a horror play in thin disguise.
Copyright © Jeff Kyser | Year Posted 2022
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