PoetryConnection.net Discussion

[tterry]

All I remember is the scenario of the poem. I first read the poem at a teaching conference and no words remain in my memory, at least none that Google picks up.
A dog comes to a man's door wanting him to let his dog out so they can play together. His dog is dead, but he cannot explain this to the neighbor's dog. The man returns to his room and sees the rug where his dog once lay. He reflects that animals do not understand absence. But the bitter irony is that he himself cannot accept the death of his dog.
Something like that. I wish I had a better system of keeping notes.

[tterry]

Beau

Beau is gone now,
the huge black poodle
who when I visited his owners,
always used to wave his yellow food dish
happily from the door and bark his welcome
or lie beside my bed in the morning.
This afternoon on the patio
his diminutive challenger the chipmunk
who used to set Beau wild
whistled his dispute from the wall
but there was only silence.
I think even the chipmunk was abashed.
They had had a long rivalry and now silence
had fallen. A lily nodded gently
on its stem and I
went to my room where Beau
would never again turn three times around
and subside with a patient sigh while I wrote.
I am not a philosopher. I merely know
everything good has an end. I hope Beau
left without having learned this.
Yesterday his girl playmate from up the road
came by slowly, having come before.
How does one explain this to animals: that after a while
there are none of us left: so shadows, no voice, no odor.
One cannot even show a picture.
She goes away silently up the track.
She does not understand the world’s absences.
Looking at the empty rug by my bed,
neither do I.
--Loren Eiseley

[Tinker1111]

Wow tterry, I am glad you found it and shared it.

~~Tink