Amazing Grace

It's Schnauzers or nothing and
nothing is no option for he loves
those sturdy little dogs in miniature.
Years ago, as a serviceman he was
sturdy too, and he met his first one
in Stuttgart. That one had kidney failure,
the second one diabetes. This, his third,
is now eleven, a companion of long
standing, mute and trusting who only
just recently was diagnosed with diabetes
and doesn't even notice the blood-sugar
tests and insulin injections. But he
was incensed after a two-day stay
at the emergency veterinarian clinic
downtown when they sped there one 
night for a 20-minute surgery that
cost $3500 but spared his life and 
removed the stone. He resented the
absence of his human mentor. Who,
just coincidentally, now has chronic
shakes, no longer robust, shrunken
into himself, absent-minded and gloomy.