War Dogs

 

Rescuers work to free victims from the rubble. (Wojciech Grzedzinski for The Washington Post)

“As the city neared its midnight curfew Saturday, dogs wearing specialized shoes to protect them from injuries were scaling the mound of debris, sniffing for survivors.” (“When Russia bombs a building full of people, this is the aftermath,” by Siobhán O'Grady and Anastacia Galouchka, The Washington Post, January14, 2023)

 

War Dogs

“Man’s best friend” can be trained

to hunt, to guide, to guard,

to keep watch in the night.

There are service dogs and therapy dogs –

all taking their place to enhance the world

where humanity’s footsteps fall.

 

War dogs are trained as scouts,

sentries and messengers.

Some are mercy dogs

who find the survivors.

 

With painful foresight

in times of peace and prosperity,

mercy dogs are prepared for

human devastation.

They are fitted with shoes

to protect them in their search

as they traverse the smoking rubble

and shards

of respectable neighborhoods

devastated by war.

 

In another time,

they would have sniffed out

wounded soldiers.

Today they search

for grandmothers and children.

They seek surviving citizens

who wanted nothing more

than to arise another day

to work an ordinary job,

to hold their children in the evening,

to kiss their loved ones

and joke with their friends.

 

A traumatic day in Ukraine;

war dogs make their way.

They recognize, like Hindu saints,

the sacred light of every person,

looking for those who may have a chance,

finding people who still have breath,

helping humanity piece together what remains.

 

 

                                                  ~ Charles Kinnaird

 

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