The daughter waits and would like to thank the Dog
given away to strangers
before she could protest
and apologize.
She imagines he lives better now.
but she will howl as he had howled
in disbelief ears drooped
the day she wacked her clarinet on her own bare knee
and collapsed onto the broken woodwind
he watching matted beard wet nose.
In her mind she pulls him close
as they await a verdict
imagines
no one taken away
and remembers him
like a kind brother
who kept her buoyant.
