Eight Puppies Poem Summary
Eight Puppies
Between the thirteenth and fifteenth day
The puppies opened their eyes.
Suddenly they saw the world, anxious with terror and joy.
They saw the belly of their mother,
Saw the door of their house,
saw a deluge of light,
saw flowering azaleas.
They saw more, they saw all,
The red, the black, the ash.
Scrambling up, pawing and clawing
More lively than squirrels.
They saw the eyes of their mother,
Heard my rasping cry and my laugh.
And I wished I were born with them.
Could it not be so another time?
To leap from a clump of banana plants
One morning of wonders—
A dog, a coyote, a dear;
To gaze with wide pupils,
To run, to stop, to run, to fall,
To whimper and whine and jump
Between the thirteenth and fifteenth day
The puppies opened their eyes.
Suddenly they saw the world, anxious with terror and joy.
They saw the belly of their mother,
Saw the door of their house,
saw a deluge of light,
saw flowering azaleas.
They saw more, they saw all,
The red, the black, the ash.
Scrambling up, pawing and clawing
More lively than squirrels.
They saw the eyes of their mother,
Heard my rasping cry and my laugh.
And I wished I were born with them.
Could it not be so another time?
To leap from a clump of banana plants
One morning of wonders—
A dog, a coyote, a dear;
To gaze with wide pupils,
To run, to stop, to run, to fall,
To whimper and whine and jump