Stray

Just a stray dog
But he distracted me
Coming from somewhere to nowhere
Between floors, mid-stairwell
Early morning at work
A mottled knotted rug
Padding aimlessly along the central reservation
Of the city ring road
Small legged, tail scraping the dirt
Barely raising its filthy head
Beyond the sand and lager bottles
Led by his nose
Meandering toward the large roundabout
It flirts haphazardly with the tarmac
Even at this time of day
And in this darkness, I thought
It’ll be hit by traffic
Killed outright or even worse
Maimed, forced to drag itself
To a lonely shrub and die
Unfulfilled
Once or twice I’m convinced of its demise
A speeding car hurls purposefully home
An articulated lorry taking product from a to b
Both seem to trammel over this itinerant mat
Only for it’s shadow to re-emerge unnoticed
By all but me
And now I really should go too
Just a stray dog