Last Mojito, The

The Dog

Bart Edelman 39 The Dog The dog is not your friend; Kindly refuse to be misled By the plaintive yips And the winsome yaps You’ve grown to love Over the treacherous years They’ve hoodwinked you Into believing a pack of lies. When it comes down to it Man’s “best friend” is a mongrel— A brutal, sadistic beast, A four-legged domestic fiend; Worse yet, of course, For the dog is not quite What he appears to be, Despite the supposed centuries Of homegrown civility. Beware the proffered paw And the wagging tail; Mind the obsequious way He follows you room to room, But never confuse this with loyalty Or the royalty of a true breed— Unafraid to live alone. Better to stick with the snake And know from day one That what you see and hear Is what you get— No false attempts to allow A leash to be slipped Around the serpent’s neck He was blissfully born without. ...