The Best of Hounds (Gather The Poets)

Poetry. (…If I have to know the tale of Gelert, then so do you)

Photo by Gadiel Lazcano on Unsplash

Warning: animal death, referenced infant death

Gather the poets
let them hear his master’s laments
let them hear the infant’s calls

Gather the poets
let them tell the tale
of betrayal

Gather the poets
let them explain how he
was the best of hounds
loyal to his master
to the end

Gather the poets
let them hear the cries
let them hear the truth
let them capture this moment

Gather the poets
let them speak of a loyal dog
who saved his master’s child
but who cruel fate
destroyed
— his master thought
the child dead
by his own dog’s maw,
and it was only
once the cruel deed was done
and that best of dogs
was ended
by his own best friend
that the baby,
tossed to one side
beneath the room’s distress,
— cried out! —
and was uncovered
alongside the body
of the fearsome
wolf
that the loyal
hound
had killed,
beneath the upturned
crib