Out!  Out!
    Out with the rain!
a man and a dog 
  traverses.

The water rolls off,
  and more follows down,
falling to fill up 
  more spaces.

Cur!  Cur!
    both dog and man!
They curry to each other’s favor.

One leads the way,
  the other one follows,
slogging through weather, 
  together.

None!  None!
    there’s no one else there!
but the man and the dog, 
    in the weather.

And where are the traces
  of the fair-weathered faces?
      of the friends 
          of the two
              they once knew?

Gone!  Gone!
    everyone’s gone.
They slip away slowly 
  each year.

For men and their dogs
  in faraway places,
sans friends anymore,
  can they share.

But each dog to a man,
    and the man to a dog,
each one to the other, 
    a friend.

Out!  Out!
    outward they wend,
through the cold, the rain,
    thick or thin.

A friend is a friend,
  and that is a friend,
upon whom one another 
  depends.

Two friends, 
  together,
in inclement weather,
finding favor 
  in each other, 
    a friend.

©2013, Marvin Loyd Welborn