DALAI LAMA ON SPEED DIAL
The Greyhound Anubis: Ancient Egypt’s God of the Dead, Nubia’s jackal-headed embalmer. This cursed dog, a god reversed by time.
Dynasties today are built in different ways. The Pharaohs’ holy guard dog is reborn into a hellish kennel where live rabbits are dangled
before him to drive him rabid. Possums and piglets wriggle and squeal on the lure so that bloodlust will give him the winning edge. This canine king, once noble and pure, is running to live and living to die for the profit and sport of owners, trainers,
punters, race callers, and so-called battlers. Anubis, how much would those cold souls weigh against the feather on your scales of justice? Trading one Underworld for another, an Undertaker forced to preside over backyard burials in betting’s mass graves.
And now, at the rescue shelter, racing a bad memory—the name “Phoenix” on your cage— you cringe and cower in the corner when the vet enters the enclosure. The sour smell of stale piss hangs heavy in the air. You glance sideways
with watery eyes and ears tilted back. For an eternity, you ran in circles pursuing this impossible prize: an afterlife.
© liveencounters.net POETRY & WRITING Volume One November - December 2023 Celebrating 14th Anniversary
