There are tracks

in the snow.

My dog walks

up to them,

Sticks his nose

in the snow,

lifts his head,

backs from them,

blows his nose,

runs away.

He’ll return

to sniff tracks

another day —

proving the cliche,

He who fights and

runs away,

may live to fight

another day,

or

according to the

wisdom of the

Chocolate Lab,

“Why bother to

fight anyway?”