Yoshi: My Walking Song

   I

  Lately my life revolves around a dog
  Who knows whose leash it is and whose routine
  We follow, stretching thin the line between
  Our independent wills.
 
  I see the dog
  As one who needs a master, while the dog
  Sees one who needs a friend, and if I’ve been
  One caught up on commands the dog has seen
  Me friendly now and then.

  So man and dog
  Since time began have tugged upon this leash
  And traveled down the trails of this routine
  Each morning looking forward to the walk.
 
  Man and dog,
  Unequally assigned, but side by side
  Man walks the dog, dog walks the man, and each
  One seems to keep the other satisfied.
 
  I am the man. This is my dog
  What would I hear if my dog could talk?
  What would I want to say
  if I were the dog?

  What would I think? What would I know?
  Where would I run to? How far would I go?
  And would I run away
  if I were the dog?

   Let me stretch this leash from here to heaven,
  Let me sometimes think I know the way
  But let me take the paths that I’ve been given
  And learn what I should say.
 
  I am the man. This is my dog.
  I try to listen whenever we walk.
  But what can there be to say
  when you’re a dog?


  II

  Sometimes I find myself spinning around
  And chasing after things that aren’t there,
  Entangling the one whose leash I share
  And losing sight of where we might be bound.
 
  I think it’s good to have someone around
  To take my side, to set the pace, to bear
  The distance and to gently lead me where
  I know I need to go,
 
  But I have found
  Myself spinning around things I don’t know.
  I’m leaping after birds up in the air
  And tracking common scents into the ground,
 
  But I have found
  The one whose leash I share at every turn
  Keeps telling me the things I ought to know
  But giving me the time I need to learn.

  God is the man. I am the dog.
  I’m not the man I once thought I was.
  He seems so far away.
  I am the dog.
 
  Prayer is the leash. This is my prayer,
  Drawing me close to the man up there.
  I don’t have words to say.
  I am the dog.
 
  But I’ll stretch this leash from here to heaven,
  And sometimes I’ll think I know the way,
  But I’ll take the paths that I’ve been given
  And learn what I should say.
 
  God is the man, but I am the one
  Who walks with him when the day is done
  And with each breaking dawn.
  I am the dog.


  III

  Lately my mind has turned the metaphor
  Of man and dog, the leash and the routine
  Upon its head. What can these verses mean
  If I’m still learning what the walking’s for?
 
  And can there even be a metaphor
  Sufficient for the poetry I’ve seen
  Along the way, when every step has been
  Part of a song I’ve never sung before?

  All the more,
  I will walk, and in my walking sing,
  And with my singing cherish the routine
  And through routine embrace each metaphor
 
  All the more,
  Of God and man, of learning how to pray,
  Of never understanding everything
  About this life but walking anyway. \

   And I’ll stretch this leash from here to heaven,
  And sometimes I’ll think I know the way,
  But I’ll take the paths that I’ve been given.
  I’m learning how to pray.
 
  Prayer is the leash. This is my prayer,
  Keeping me close to the man up there,
  And he’s not so far away.
  I am the dog.