Argos, Odysseus' Dog
(See Odyssey 17.290-327)

another hunting dog poem, i.m. Timothy Murphy

Argos, with your mange-scabbed coat,
Shipwreck of ribs, washed up among
The midden's refuse, the mules' dung,
Do you still track the wild goat

Through dreams of oregano and thyme?
You lift your head and prick your ears.
Voice that marooned you twenty years
Ago, sails back, still in its prime

To ask the swineherd why you sleep
Outside the walls, seething with fleas,
He speaks of breeding, pedigrees.
The ordure shifts, piled soft and deep.

Remember black ships rigged for Troy?
Quayside, just weaned, you whimpered. Stay,
He anchored you. And you obey:
You stay still. No-one croons "Good boy."

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Copyright © 2020 A.E. Stallings All rights reserved
from Able Muse
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