Dogs are natural scavengers They have the stomach for it I remember Beth swallowed some decaying squirrel whole Its tail hanging out of her mouth for the longest time Nothing ever became of it I always wondered where the deer went when they died The forest was always a pantheistic land of wonder As the snow tickled our noses Lexie was nowhere to be found I laughed it off and yelled for her Then yelled and yelled Then ran and abruptly stopped Lexie tenderly edging toward the deer carcass Shy even Then the bump on the bridge of her nose appeared A couple months later, in an unusual spring heat Lexie leaves the trail With a straightforward earnestness We walk an unfamiliar side–path Cross an undiscovered stream Another carcass prone to the sun A vulture crouched in an adjacent tree Impatient for our departure The bump on her head reappeared at the top Lexie was given two months to live And, at that other river, Her jaw too weak to grip the large branches so much a part of her This third carcass Peaceful, laying amid the thorns One does not begrudge one condemned to death to take their fill of death Not one lick of impropriety We filled our days with walks We denied ourselves none of our walks We partook Peace