There is a brotherhood of all the stray dogs in the street
When they sleep, they know
that there could be another day of ice cream cones
When it is silent, someone is running
through the dark streets
The dogs huddle together
They are quiet things, solemn
If one of them were to bleed
it would be an indignant
red.

The stray dogs know
that the tie on the street, half in a puddle,
is calm with its hope, of another neck to wear
The stray dogs sit
on the side of the street
and they wait
At night when it rains
they wait
When the cars hurtle by, lights and spinning tires
and droplets of rain kicked up at their heels
they wait.

The stray dogs sit on the side of the road
until one day, when the road is loud
when it is mayhem and strife
There is a stray dog with a chipped tooth, lame eye
You could see it in the other eye that he would not
wait!
The loud street roared
as the stray dog tore a bolt of lightning from the sky
to carry his step quickly
so quickly
The tie in the road it was red and striped
red and striped red and striped red and striped
it felt like dirt and blood
between the dog’s teeth
If he brings it to the brotherhood,
the brotherhood will eat him whole
because he has taken the tie, the side of the street
the reason to wait and the reason to live