SLEEPING DOGS

Sleeping dogs are memories

And you’d best leave them alone,

Or so I have been told

Because they may up and bite you,

If you disturb them.

The problem is,

I don’t have to wake them

To feel the pain of their bite

Looking at them is enough

To feel those sharp teeth sink in.

The bite hurts

Even as they lay fast asleep,

And it makes me wonder

If it would feel any worse

If I woke those dogs up.

I don’t know,

But I do suspect

I would find out more

About the dogs, and myself.

Would that be so bad?

And what the dogs remember,

Is it different from what I recall?

Does that make a difference?

I have to find out or should I?

And so I try to rouse: gently, gently…

Chip Bergeron

-February 16 2012