Archie and
Tana
It is a family tradition now
And it’s been this way for years
After school Archie and Montana, take a
walk
Archie, he just listens, Tana, she just
talks
She tells him ‘bout her troubles
And says what makes her laugh
A lead hangs loosely from his neck
And loops back around her arm
He paces close beside her
He’s keeping her from harm
Walkers stop to greet them,
And Archie loves a pat
They talk about each other’s day,
Well, you know our Tana loves a chat
And while they are out walking,
In her head she sings a song
Around the corner and up the street,
Her troubles, quickly gone
Archie stops to sniff another dog,
He lifts his leg and smiles
Tana tugs his lead and walks
And Archie moves along.
He hears about her friends at school
What they like to say, and do
He hears about her teachers
And about the bullies too,
How their words and actions cruel
Her feelings are quite often hurt
And sometimes there’s bruise
Archie seems to understand her plight
His brown eyes stare up at her
And seem to question why
She sees her own reflection
Deep in his soft brown eyes
Our Tana’s getting smarter
Every day, she grows more wise
A growing girl with pretty looks
She is nobody’s fool
Archie, he just looks at her
As his lips, they fill with drool
She stops to buy an icecream
From a hot pink vending van
She buys one too, for Archie,
On the insistence of the man
Tana’s sitting on a park bench
An icecream in each hand
Both looking at the sunset
Clouds of red and crimson
Reflected in their view
An image of the houses
Floating on the lake
She nods to people walking by
And wonders about them too
This girl her dog and evening
Eating icecream by the lake
Across the water wafts
The smell of barbeque
Of chops, and sausages
Of onions mixed with mushroom
There’s bacon in there too
Tana’s thoughts are miles away
Archie lifts his paw to touch her arm
She lets him lick her icecream
And then she drops the cone
She gave it to him willingly
Two gulps, and it was gone
She hears someone singing
To the strains of their guitar
And in the corner of the park
She sees him strumming
He leans back against his car.
His song is one of love and loss
And aching of the heart
She smiles, and cuddles Archie
Back home, they have to start.
She drops a coin into his upturned hat
The music man, he nods and smiles
Never losing his rhythm or his beat
And there in that fleeting moment
Tana imagines dancing to his tune
Playing tambourine and singing
Or banging on a drum
A magpie warbles overhead
Drowning out the city’s hum
All the bullies in the world
Are now so far from her mind
All she wants to do is sing
To be with people who are kind.
Archie’s picking up the pace now
And he’s straining at his lead
Leading her down the street
To the butcher and a bone
This is a daily ritual
As Archie makes for home
Tom the butcher likes them both
And with Tana likes to chat
Archie doesn’t care about the talk
He is all about the bone
Soon back at home and
Archie’s lead is dropped
Mum growls about muddy prints
On a floor she’s freshly mopped
‘How was you walk?’ she asks
‘Yeah it was good, just tops.’
‘Better hit the homework then
before tea’ Mum says
‘You know, how your time flies’
Mum gives Archie’s back a rub,
And a scratch behind his ears
She lets her mind wander
To days of schoolyard bullies
And she hears their pain filled taunts
Feels the constant push and punch
She remembers lost and lonely thoughts
She remembers fending off the tease
But knew her vitality was shrinking
Under the bully’s constant jibes
Andy knows how much you need a friend
In a daughter’s ever changing world
And how close a friend this dog can be,
To her loving, growing girl
Again her mind drifts back
To those testing days of growing up,
Her old dog sat there by her side
His ears, all pricked and keen
For hours she told him all about
Her hopes, her fears. and all of her dreams
The memory lives within her still
It makes her strong and warm
As it has done for years.
