To Lady and the Dog Star

They said a funny Latin word, they said that you were dead, yet merrily you wagged your tail when I took you to the vet. You were not kind to chickens, as well the neighbors know, or come to that, to ducks and geese, and yet I loved you so. Oh, to recall the bygone days we roamed and roved together, sometimes when snow lay all about, sometimes o'er hills of heather. Our walkies to the liquor store, our excursions to the bar, and all those times you led me home when I couldn't use the car. At night, I swear, an angel looms in the purple sky, and on a gently twinkling leash you, Lady, lead on high.