There is only now.

The Master, the Top Dog,

(the alpha male) is gone.

The new guy feeds us:

our eyes begin to go first to him.

…

We wait, we lounge, we mope

when he puts us out in the pen.

There is room to play,

but he may never return,

never let us back with the pack,

with the kind one, with the shorties…

…

He’s here now!  We’re back inside!

There may be more food!

Search, bark, gambol, sniff,

tumble, lick, pretend to fight–

why is he taking us back outside

to the pen?

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Sept. 3, 2012