Abducted from the wilds of Arkansas,

hurled into the hole of a truck,

abandoned, trembling, 

utterly alone.

Inside the dark, airless

cave she traveled,slamming

back and forth as she  left.

Betrayed by life,

moving toward death,

this magnificent spirit

found her way to me.

Inside her crate, huddled,

a black ball of trauma,

she would not come out.

Blending into the 

blackness like the night,

black as ink,

black as gone.

She looked at me

with pleading eyes, 

I feed her food and water.

She ate. Furtively.

I surrounded her

in a blanket of love

and waited.

She asked for nothing.

Failing expensive trainers, 

dog psychologists,

shook their heads.

Through seizures, pneumonia,

skin disease and finally, cancer,

for seven years

we rescued each other.