Heavensent Alternatives

The small unkempt crossbreed, 
overweight to the point of gross
ungainliness may appear a poor 
specimen of canine pride to a
critical appraiser, but to her
beaming owner, she is a joy to
behold, a classic of her species,
a beloved companion, a trusted
confidant. The small dog manages
to further compromise her appearance
with constant skinny dips into a
befouled, static ditch-stream
carrying off rural effluent, all the
while barking in an ecstasy of
rhapsodic transport at the pleasure
derived from her devotion to water.
Came the winter months, the
dishevelled little dog looked in 
vain for the familiarity of the
waterway, frozen and overlaid
with snow. Until it dawned that 
she can indulge alternately
burrowing into the plush depths of
newfallen snow, its purity and lack
of wretched odours, absent chemical
runoff, somehow forgivable.