Loyalty by Edward Taylor (Poem of the Day)

Loyalty by Edward Taylor

This is the hardest part:

When I came back to life

I was a good family dog

and not too friendly to strangers.

I got a thirty-five dollar raise

in salary, and through the pea-soup fogs 

I drove the General, and introduced him 

at rallies. I had a totalitarian approach 

and was a massive boost to his popularity. 

I did my best to reduce the number of people. 

The local bourgeoisie did not exist.

One of them was a mystic 

and walked right over me 

as if I were a bed of hot coals.

This is par for the course-

I will be employing sundry golf metaphors 

henceforth, because a dog, best friend 

and chief advisor to the General, should. 

While dining with the General I said,

"Let's play the back nine in a sacred rage. 

Let's tee-off over the foredoomed community 

and putt ourselves thunderously, touching bottom." 

He drank it all in, rugged and dusky.

I think I know what he was thinking. 

He held his automatic to my little head 

and recited a poem about my many weaknesses, 

for which I loved him so.

Loyalty - Poem by Edward Taylor