Family Dog

You left, not I.

One by one there were less of you.

Less bicycles tipping off stands.

Less leftovers I’d get of stew.

Less and less shouts and then fewer hands.

To pull back my ears or smooth my head,

Or strangle my throat till my tongue went dry.

Some of you changed tastes, slept with cats instead.

Each, apart, you told me you loved me: a lie.

You each went, snapping your suitcase shut.

I loped after each car. Barking at the end

Of our drive. I could only stray so far. What

I was attached to in you would not stretch or bend.

When the last who sucked his bottle lying on my fleecy side

Left, I ambled off to where dogs bereft go

Down by the railroad tracks, and died.