April PAD Challenge Day 13

April PAD Challenge, Day 13

Prompt: an animal sestina

***

Doggy Life

My limbs hurt, it's hard to stretch.
I wonder if in spite of my dark-brown skin
anyone can see a smile on my face.
No, I'm not happy, I'm catching my breath;
I've only escaped death because I can run.
It's not the first time I lick the wet ground.

But at this very moment when I've ground
my teeth to sand, I'm glad, in the short run,
that I'm alive. Under my ragged breath
I whisper to passing feet, 'In your face!'
I still have pride, a few spare knees to skin,
and staying alive isn't much of a stretch.

Some would think I'm cute, but still waters run
deep inside me, where nothing, not a breath
of wind stirs them. I know my lovely face
doesn't look mean, more than once it saved my skin,
but to say I'm harmless is quite a stretch;
I could chase a wild cat into the ground.

It's always been like this, from my first breath,
from the moment my mom's tongue touched my face,
and I nuzzled her belly, soaked to skin;
hands tore me away, and hours at a stretch
I lay hungry and blind on frozen ground.
When found by some stray female on the run,

shaking, I grabbed a nipple and stuffed my face
till my stomach hurt and the tender skin
on my gammon felt raw, but by no stretch
I was able, or was going, to give ground.
I lived, and before I could walk, I'd run
until I would collapse, gasping for breath.

I let nobody get under my skin,
it's thick enough and not easy to stretch.
Life taught me to keep my ear to the ground,
I'm so good, were I human I could run
for office, but I'd rather save my breath
and be a dog till I'm blue in the face.

When I'm finally on the home stretch, alive by the skin
of my teeth, in one breath hundreds of doors slammed in my face,
I'll take the high ground and howl that I've had a great run.