HOT DOGS... (My poem about stray dogs in Athens during my visit in 2005...)

 Hot Dogs…

They lie in shade.

Five, maybe six under cars

Or on steps,

Across pavements,

Even in roads,

As the morning sun 

Casts its tiring spell

On these feral waifs, 

These tranquillised predators 

With no fixed abodes.

They lie like the dead,

Lifeless on ancient ground

Or inside temples,

Strewn across rubble,

Even on marble, cool,

As the day’s heat

Oozes its debilitating potion

On these living corpses,

These traumatised hounds,

To whom life has been cruel…

Pete Ray

Stray dogs lying around in Athens during my visit in 2005…