to give the thing a name that belongs to something else
            I whom the dogs trust  
     dog you all night  
                                       under my arm 
 
   so many new years days 
                                                      to mark per year 
                                    my fingers hurt 
    
                  from stroking the sun 
                                these sulky strays  
                 lick  
                           my tongues  
                       my hurts clean  
                                         as an echo  
               rippling through the valley
                      how can I thank them? 
                                    where will you be then?
Copyright © 2021 by Hao Guang Tse. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 14, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.