The sky is the belly of a large dog,
sleeping.
All day the small gray flag of his ear
is lowered and raised.
The dream he dreams has no beginning.
Here on earth we dream
a deep-eyed dog sleeps under our stairs
and will rise to meet us.
Dogs curl in dark places,
nests of rich leaves.
We want to bury ourselves
in someone else's home.
The dog who floats over us
has no masters.
If there were people who loved him,
he remembers them equally,
the one who smelled like somke,
the one who brought bones from the restaurant.
It is the long fence
of their hoping he would stay
that he has jumped.
-Naomi Shihab Nye