The Power of a Dog
by Rudyard Kipling and Eran Arbel
I love and despise the original song for what it means and I always come back to it.
However, despite it still being very strong, I find that it has aged very badly in several respects.
So, here’s my riff on it.
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From the assholes and dipshits that fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Fellow Humans, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Adopt a pup and you will recieve
Love so strong, undying, that you cannot concieve.
With a dog in your life, it’s hard to burn out
When you can always see, joy in a snout
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When those precious years, far too little,
Are growing shorter and slower, it’ll
Be hard to be happy, when that little pupper,
Now a tired senior, eating a last supper.
Then you will find, that you need to bear
That you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the creature you nurtured, played with its paws,
Who greeted you daily, morning, evening, because,
When the body runs its course, and will is depleted,
You have to let go, father time undefeated.
Allow the vet, the final dose, to administer
For you have given your heart to a dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough, happiness rare,
Car crashes, wars, disease, and despair.
Our love, like theirs, is the grip of a vice,
Once it attaches, it stays there for life.
It doesn’t matter which dog or how long,
You’ve given your heart, to them it belongs.
In the end, when they’re gone, you can only compose,
For straight words pale before poems or prose.
You know this is coming, again you are there,
Giving your heart to a dog to tear.
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