Stray

For those who were, but were not.
For those I loved, and loved not.

Black dog, black dog entered our country

And they pointed to me.

(after Steve Reich)

"You are a stranger here, Black Dog".

True, but the Stranger passed through here once, said Layla's dog

"A dog's tail can never be straightened. And your soul is black"

Yes, but so it was with her hair. So were her eyes, said Qitmir.

Black dog howled at the moon for some apparent reason.

"Oh, do stop that child, you're making a fool of yourself again,"said the killing moon. "Do you think you can make me fall from the skies like that?"

Yes, fall for me.

The moon laughed: "it's not like that" [and then again, gently]: "it's not like that. I follow a fixed path up here and cannot be swayed this way or the other"

Black dog looked perturbed and scratched the earth with his paw... But I thought you controlled the tides and all that comes and goes?

The moon was exasperated. If she had been a woman or a small child she would have put her hands on her hips. "That's not how it works; everything moves in a circle"

Black dog came to realise that the moon was a lot more mysterious than he had at first thought and that most of the time he didn't really understand what the moon meant. It was at times like these that he felt like saying, well, old chap, what are you actually saying, but knowing the moon's bad temper he resisted. Puzzled and tired, he walked away....

One day black dog came across a well. He asked china dog- who was now famous after Dylan's poem and who knew about these things- What's that?

"A dark mirror" said china.

Oh.

And then black dog, being of the inquisitive type, stood on his hind legs and peered into it.

"What do you spy?", asked china.

I only see darkness.

"There you go!", said china, triumphantly.

Wait! I can also see the moon. But how is that possible?! Have I lost my senses or is it now night? Am I one or two? Is it lonely down there? Che fai tu, luna, in ciel?Dimmi, che fai, silenziosa luna? She seems so peaceful, like a dream within a dream.

Black dog knew not to trust china, who had studied too much philosophy and lost his mind. But he did remember his old friend Pythagoras, who had said that God loves odd numbers.

China, how can one reach the moon, how can I grow in lightness? asked black dog. Will words or thoughts take me there? How can the moon appear in the day?

China dog just sat and thought and thought. And then eventually he said:

If your heart is not deceived by the mirage, be not proud of the sharpness of your understanding; for your freedom from this optical illusion is due to your imperfect thirst.

And with that black dog became sad and he began to wonder if had really been alive all this time or whether he had died a long time ago and was only remembering these events. How to break the circle?

As the carcass was dragged off, its glass eyes stared at her with the humble reproof of the things that you throw away, that you wish to be rid of. A few minutes later what remained of Bendicò was tossed down into a corner that the dustman visited every day. As he sailed down from the window, he seemed for a moment to take shape again and you could have seen him dancing in the air, a quadruped with long whiskers and his right forepaw raised as if cursing. And then he too found peace in a pile of livid dust.

Crying - Roy Orbison