I've been corresponding with one of my high school English teachers (my favorite, or course, and the one you can blame for encouraging me to write this stuff) and many of her replies come on cards which show dogs in various acts of mischef. This was inspired by those portraits.

He slips and slides

and scampers and glides

all over the house.

A wide-eyed bundle

of little energy,

a small bundle

of atomic power.

He rolls around the yard

on a warm spring day,

he studies and stares down

the unfinished decoys

of the winter.

He'll soon grow

into a reliable old dog.

Do you think he'll think about

his days as a little puppy?