To Be Referenced If at a Loss as to How to Bury a Dog
The grave should be in the shade
Close enough to be seen from the house
No more than three people should dig
Only one shovel should be used
And an ax for any roots
The dog should be under a blanket
In the shade of other trees
Out of sight of the diggers and children
Who should be breaking lilacs off the bushes
The grave should be as long as the shovel
And as wide as the ax
And deeper than all that
More lilacs please
Purple and white ones equally
More than seems necessary
Begin throwing them in now
As if this is a grave for lilacs
While the dog will be buried elsewhere
When the bottom of the grave isn’t visible
Covered as it is totally in lilacs
The dog should be carried down
On a sling of two ropes
Carried by four children
For whom the weight is almost too much
But not too much
And the dog lowered onto the lilacs
Then covered in more lilacs
Someone run get his bowl
Fill it fuller than it was ever filled
When he was alive
A spilling hill of kibble
This is not the time for restraint
This is the time to go
Wild with lilacs and kibble
The bowl should be placed near his mouth
As if he could wake in the dark hungry
As if he could wake in the dark
Only now should the grave be filled in
Everyone should help fill it
With bare hands and boots
With the ax’s drowsy head
And the bland face of the shovel
Like the lilacs are the blue and white embers
Of a fire hikers thought they put out
Now heal the bare soil over in leaves
And mark both ends with white stones
As if where the dog lies could be forgotten
The dog has become a place now
Verb slowing down into noun
And becoming this still little hill where
One might stand and picture
The dog and lilacs alive