A Familiar Dog
This dog we have known for years – always the same
always with a big bone in his teeth that he doesn’t even eat
his teeth don’t let it go (and how is he to bark?)
unless every night when we sleep while hiding
he gnaws it secretly and digging somewhere – who knows –
he finds a new bone for the next day or unless
he has learned that barking is useless
that he doesn’t protect anybody neither garden nor house
neither fountain nor himself from the moon from time
from the thieves
Manolis Aligizakis 