Thick and dark brown mud
Soaks into the paws
Of blue dogs as they chase
Faster and faster convinced
That what they seek is just over
That next fallen log
Zigzagging unafraid of what lies ahead
Stopping just shy
Of the sharp cliff fall
Paws scratch at the edges
Trying in vain to slink down to where he lay
Held back by taut leads
As the excitement shifts to human voices
Peering over the edge to see what the dogs have found
At first just that big box store shirt
Flapping and straining to be free
From the battered and bound broken bones
It lies beneath
Bones picked clean by beak and tooth alike
The animals have had their fill of him
And now the humans who recover him
Will do the same