Argus By Doug Holder

*** Odysseus’s Dog

 

After his long exile

I saw Odysseus

Pat Argus’s head

Once young

A fleet-footed hunter

Now infested, matted

His bed a

dung heap.

 

Resting on his last breath

His eye’s brightened with

His master’s voice, touch

A short flick of recognition

An exhausted exhale

Before he left

For some eternal

Canine river.

 

I thought of my wife

In her hospice bed

She had turned to chalk

Cancer marked

and mocked her

for what she once was.

I told her it was alright to go

Her eyes opened in surprise

And she let go.

 

And now I sit by the ocean

And watch its ebb and

Flow….

Image by Brian Harkins

Doug Holder resides in Revere, Beach, Mass.—a coastal city—where he walks the beach, writes poetry, and comes home to his loyal cat klezmer....

Board of Directors of the New England Poetry Club

Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene http://dougholder.blogspot.com

Ibbetson Street Press http://www.ibbetsonpress.com

Poet to Poet/Writer to Writer http://www.poettopoetwritertowriter.blogspot.com

Doug Holder CV http://www.dougholderresume.blogspot.com

Doug Holder's Columns in The Somerville Times

https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/?s=%22Doug+Holder%22&x=0&y=0

Doug Holder's collection at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/@dougholder