<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: -0.12px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Choosing A Dog</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><p style="margin: 6px 0px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: -0.12px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">"It's love," they say. You touch<br class="">the right one and a whole half of the universe<br class="">wakes up, a new half.</p><div class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: -0.12px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px;" class="">Some people never find<br class="">that half, or they neglect it or trade it<br class="">for money or success and it dies.</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px;" class="">The faces of big dogs tell, over the years,<br class="">that size is a burden: you enjoy it for awhile<br class="">but then maintenance gets to you.</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px;" class="">When I get old I think I'll keep, not a little<br class="">dog, but a serious dog,<br class="">for the casual, drop-in criminal —</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px;" class="">My kind of dog, unimpressed by<br class="">dress or manner, just knowing<br class="">what's really there by the smell.</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px;" class="">Your good dogs, some things that they hear<br class="">they don't really want you to know —<br class="">it's too grim or ethereal.</p><p style="margin: 6px 0px;" class="">And sometimes when they look in the fire<br class="">they see time going on and someone alone,<br class="">but they don't say anything.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><p style="margin: 6px 0px;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- William Stafford</p></div></body></html>