Song of the Old Dog (Las Canciones del Perro Antiguo)

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From Loteria Jarocha, by Alec Dempster, published by The Porcupine's Quill in 2013.

This poem arrived, by mistake, in a pile of entries to a Geist poetry contest.

The bells ring again
and the cars arrive,
day after day—same hour, different hour
What do I care!

The bells ring again
and I am on the street and promenade,
not lost and not found

The butterflies are alive and moving.
I move from one scent to another.
I am not lost and not found

These young whippersnappers (los loquillos)
They have no memory!
They sniff and go crazy.
These young ones sometimes take my spot,
They are rude and have no stories
They have no nose!

Once I was El Toro…
(she sees me
but there would be a fight
and no one wants that now)
I am not lost, yet not found

The young butterflies practise flight
and grow strong.
They are moving…

I will ask them to strap me on their backs
and I will ride the wind

But…
I know I am too heavy and
I complain too much:

“These straps are too tight”
“Too loose”
“The sun is too close, the moon too far away”
“Fly closer to the ground! There are no smells up here”
“I need mud in my feet and a crotch in my nose”
“Land here!
There’s a pile of garbage”

I am here forever
What do I care!
and the bells ring again
not lost and not found…

I do remember the perfect aroma of you.

I know the infinite aroma of you all.