Taking Off from an Old WCW Poem

Imagine that — my last words

might have been spoken to the dog, she

who saved my life, it has been said, spoken

with no thought

of reply nor of understanding, a genial insult

maybe, a philosophical conundrum

posed aeons before any household pet ever

turned an ear. In the ambulance I made no remark

about trees nor how tired I was of them,

and in the second ambulance our dog’s heart

beat hard with terror.