Hard to say who’s more content—
the dog, in his favorite pose,
or the Buddha, in his.
Then again, maybe it’s me,
seeing this emblem
of perfect serenity.
No matter the cat escaped,
no matter how far off the food,
the dog is leaving a sign
that he was here
in his sacred,
most singular piss.
The Buddha receives this gift
as he does all others.
And I—
I have to pause.
The dog has his business.
And the Buddha approves.
LUKE HANKINS is the author of a collection of poems, Weak Devotions, and a collection of essays, The Work of Creation: Selected Prose. He is the editor of Poems of Devotion: An Anthology of Recent Poets, and a collection of his translations from the French of Stella Vinitchi Radulescu, A Cry in the Snow & Other Poems, is forthcoming from Seagull Books. Hankins is the founder and editor of Orison Books, a non-profit literary press focused on the life of the spirit from a broad and inclusive range of perspectives. He also serves as Senior Editor at Asheville Poetry Review.