Funeral

My dog is digging
a hole in
the backyard

with a pigeon
dead in its mouth. Gray
feathers wedged

in the wet grass. It
must have been
injured, or maybe

the dog was lucky enough to catch
it mid-air, the bird flying low
searching for worms

or seed. The burial
is quick, without
ceremony. Some preservation

for a later meal, or possibly,
the dog knows how to
care for dead things.