b'Ropesby Mary Oliver from her book of poems,Dog Songs. Mary has won the NationalBook Award and the Pulitzer Prizefor poetry.Illustration of Sammy by award-winningillustrator John Burgoyne. He has been thebackcover artist for Cooks IllustratedMagazine since 1998.I N THE OLD DAYS ,dogs in our town gling.Laterthatdayhisowner their houses to hide him from the law.roamedfreely.Buttheoldways appeared withpapersfromthe Onceawomanontheotherendofchanged. Bidewee home, and a leash. His name is town called; when I got there she said,Onemorningapuppyarrivedin Sammy, she said. And hes yours. Can you wait just a few minutes? Imour yard with a length of rope hanging As Sammy grew older he began to making him some scrambled eggs.from his collar. He played with our dogs; roam around the town and, as a result, I could tell many more stories abouteventuallyhevanished.Butthenext began to be caught by the dog officer. Sammy, theyre endless. But Ill just tellmorning he showed up again, with a dif- Eventually,ofcourse,weweresum- you the unexpected, joyful conclusion.ferent rope attached. This happened for a monedtocourt,which,welearned The dog officer resigned! And the nextnumber of dayshe appeared, he was quickly,wasnotaplaceinwhichto officerwasadifferentsort;hetooplayful and friendly, and always accom- argue. Weweretoldtobuildafence. remembered and missed the old days. Sopanied by a chewed-through rope. Which we did. when he found Sammy he would simplyJust at that time we were moving to But it turned out that Sammy could call him into his truck and drive himanother house, which we finished doing not only chew through ropes, he could also home. In this way, Sammy lived a longall in one evening. A day or so later, on climb fences. So his roaming continued. and happy life, with many friends.a hunch, I drove back to the old house Butexceptforthedogofficer, ThisisSammysstory.ButIalsoand found him lying in the grass by our Sammy never got into trouble, he made think there are one or two poems in itdoor. I put him in the car and showed friends.Hewouldntfightwithother somewhere. Maybe its what life was likehimwhereournewhousewas. Do dogs, he just seemed to stay awhile in in this dear town years ago, and how ayour best, I said. someonesyardand,ifpossible,tosay lot of us miss it.He stayed around for a while, then hello to the owners. People began to call Or maybe its about the wonderfulwasgone.Buttherehewasthenext us to come and get him before the dog things that may happen if you break themorning at the new house. Rope dan- officersawhim.Sometookhiminto ropes that are holding you. Uwww.TheNewBarker.com Winte 2016 THE NEW BARKER 31'