Make these dogs happy

Make these dogs happy

Dr Abe V Rotor

Pastel drawing by Anna Christina R Rotor, author's daughter, circa 2000

Make these dogs happy, I once asked a child,
with pencil drew a pair of bone,
which made a change in the dogs' expression,
their tails and eyes had shown.

Another child drew a house in gaily colors;
with arch door and window;
and he wrote the name of the new owner,
but King slept on its shadow.

Another child drew a tree with a bird's nest
which is happier, dog or bird?
He is referee, matchmaker, guardian,
he plays the role of the third.

Up front a child made familiar drawings:
playthings for dog and child.
happiness is in playing the same game
with the master though how wild.

At the back, a little girl kept drawing;
shy, she hid her work but I saw.
Why she had unchained the dogs! Freedom!
she wrote with knitted brow.

Here I saw two views, domestic and wild -
which is sad, which is happy?
How little I know of the lesson I ought to know,
of dogs in the wild and free. ~