Conversation With Senora (age 9)That I Would like to Have Had

She lived next door.
But now she has moved away
To Maryland.
So near and yet so far.

Oh, the loss,
Oh, the loss,
Such a great loss.

I remember telling her
To beat Bear(the dog),
"Because you can't reason with him -
He's a dumb animal, you know."

Soon thereafter
She was beating Bear,
Hitting him harder each time.
"You stupid dog," she'd say.
"Get down, get down!"
(He always was standing up,
Putting his dirty paws on her clothes.)

"No, no, stop,stop,"
I should have said right then.
"I was wrong, I made a mistake.
You shouldn't go on beating him.
Save that for animals smart enuff
To want to avoid the pain.
Bear, evidently, is too headstrong,
Too macho to deal with in that way."

Because she was getting hateful,
I should have brought up the opposite, love.
"No,with really dumb dogs,
You have to make up their mental deficit
With love, mother love.
You just have to love them more,
Instead of hitting them over and over."

That's what I would say,
If i had the chance to live
that wonderful moment over again.

Dare I say it -
Any moment with Senora was wonderful!