Dogs of Love and War

Beautiful bronze-bodied dog,
I hear your splayed paws slap above me,
Scrape through the hard red clay,
Your nails painted red by the sultry soil,
Your red tongue aching for flesh,
Your red heart quavering obscenely--
I smell upon you her scent,
Feral and as well-known to me as my own
And which others have smelled with their fat nostrils dilated
Filled up with rank knowledge
The knowledge of other bodies upon that body
The knowledge of tongues upon that tongue
The knowledge of the panting of that dog who has unearthed her
And who comes for me.