The Next World
       

Three years gone, the dog will greet me there.
She'll waggle up to my arms at the pearly gate.
A Spitz with wet glass eyes and fine white hair,
she was nearly an angel in her earthly state—
with just as much free will as angels have,
her nature to please mine, to show how grace
can elevate obedience into love
and turn a wolf's into an angel's face.

But if things go south, at least there'll be my cat—
soot fur with eyes that flash like yellow tin.
She'll help the devils rend my flesh, a blur
of arch and hiss, of claw, ears back and flat.
She shows the gross indifference of sin
then implicates me with a little purr.

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Copyright © 2021 Benjamin S. Grossberg All rights reserved
from My Husband Would
University of Tampa Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission