The Howls in the Night

by Ngo Binh Anh Khoa

The stray dogs are at it again,
Roaming the shadowed streets as
Their disjointed streams of
Howls and cries and wails and whines
Rip apart the silence of the night.

What conversations are they having?
What meanings can be gleaned from
Those voices that ring without words?
What topics can there be,
Among the tossed-away garbage and
Fly-infested bins overflowing with
The wasted and the discarded?

Are those the howls of victory in some contest,
In which the toughest of
The emaciated dogs have claimed their spoils,
Barking at the losers and
Being barked at in return?

Are those the howls of summoning when they,
By chance, have uncovered
Some hidden treasures
And are now calling out to their companions
To share the prizes?

Or are those, perhaps, the wails of despair
After hours upon hours of labor
Amounting to naught when
Nothing can be found in the dump,
Leaving them rejected
And empty-handed as they drag
Their wind-wrestled
And rain-beaten bodies
Back to their shabby shelters,
Back to the little ones waiting every second
For their return–
To the little ones that have learned to converse
In the same ways as they do,
With howls and cries and wails and whines
Choked with disappointment?

There they go again;
Another howl begins,
Leading to another,
And another,
And another
Till the veil of night is torn to shreds
By all the piercing sounds
Amid the biting winds that cut
Into the tender skin
Behind the mangled fur.

Now comes a moment of silence
Before another refrain
As the stray dogs cry
Their hearts and lungs out
Into the oppressive air,
Into the empty streets,
And into the ears of anyone
That perchance may heed
Their pleading.

They cry
Because nighttime is the only time
They may make themselves heard,
For during the busy daytime,
They
Are but peripheral existences–
Merely passing ghosts
Amid the cacophony
Of the cold and callous
Passers-by.

(Originally published in “Words of Legends.” Link: https://www.amazon.com/Words-Legends-Jael-Kemuma-Migiro/dp/9393695482)