A dog is loose in the alley.

Labrador pitbull mix,

His jetblack coat is shining in the sun.

I see his stocky muscular build 

As he kicks up dirt behind him like a bull.

He takes a whiz on the fence post,

Then trots off around the bend to parts unknown.

And he may wind up dead in the ditch 

Beside the highway by midnight,

But he is the real article right this minute,

Fully alive and fully free to live and die

Like the dog that he is.

-jenn