The Golden Dog
The house three doors up hill had a lab,
The golden kind who lived, and I feared guarded
At their front door, under the carport.
And fearless Joe, who loved the Marines and wanted
Desperately to join them after high school,
Got bit in his trigger arm when he reached to pet the lab.
Which later seemed a dark omen for his dreams
In our years of innocence, before Khe Son and Hue
When everything seemed possible.
When all life was a door you could knock at
And they would let you in, if only you dared
Reach out to the golden dog.