Humanity

My friend from high school used to live by the biggest and prettiest lake in our tiny town.

Every day I could, I would sit on her back porch and just stare at the view.

I would watch as the sunlight glistened across the ripples in the water,

and I would let the sounds of the mating insects surround me

and adore the shades of forest green of my view.

I would do this at the same time every day,

just after 3:30 PM.

The neighbor would chain up his dog outside under a tree every day close to 4:00.

The dog would bark at me and I would smile at the happiness that simmered in the corner of his eye.

despite the chain about his neck constricted his ecstatic movements and breathing.

My friend had two dogs as well,

a black lab and a dark brown cocker spaniel.

They would bark back and forth towards each other and I would smile.

The black lap yelped about his day,

as he hopped across this deck,

as the cocker spaniel sat peacefully and listened to his every word.

In the distance, the dog next door would yap towards us.

He wished to be included in all of our small talk.

The dogs would continue to speak and wag their tails violently

back and forth, the sign of happiness,

the sound of their tails swishing through the air.

My friend didn’t like this.

She didn't last long with these acts of jumping and yelping,

and shouted words into the air.

She shouted a stern, "NO."

Their tails would stop wagging.

They looked statuesque,

innocent of the world and yet, still happy as can be.

Her black lab would continue his barking after a couple long seconds of silence.

My friend would then proceed to walk over to him and slap him on the tip of the nose.

He would yelp, afraid.

I stopped my smiling.

She would be smiling at me.

-S.L.S.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

wow this is heavy...not much humanity shown by your friend, whom i imagine would not stay your friend for long...

bet you would like to have adopted those dogs...

that is so sad...i like how you present the clash of the serene view with the barking dogs...although the barking could disrupt the serenity in a way...it is the natural way of things and present it with a wag of the tail..happiness...yes,

and a beautiful scene a bit disrupted, but the biggest disruption is the cruelty shown by the friend...and how sad the dog becomes afraid...of her...and yet there is hope because you see him as still happy beneath it all..

i think as humans we can become scarred and scared but there is a part of us that will always long to be happy...and that part can survive.

[Dark Tower]

A beautiful piece. Your friend not appearing like a very person, especially as personally I love my labs. But this is an amazing write.

[zainul]

Lovely story.
I can imagine the location,activities of dog and human partners very clearly.
Thanks for sharing.

[Coyote Poetry]

A interesting poem. Some people don't appreciate what they have. I like the way you enjoyed the dogs. A sad ending. Thank you for sharing the good story.
Coyote