Danger Looks Different

I keep the dog inside
Because the moment he sees those damn longhorn cattle
He's going to go rushing after them.

Bounding, barking, horripilating,
With all of the fierceness and glee of a hunter
He will hurl his nineteen-pound body

Through one of the damn gaps in the damn fence
And toward the heels of some hitherto
Undangerous cow.

I could say to him, "No! They are fifty
Times your size! They are equipped with enormous horns!
You will be kicked, stomped, or possibly gored!"

I have said these things before, and always
He looks at me for the briefest
Of moments, as if

To say, "Nothing is more dangerous
Than playing it safe."
Before turning and charging

Through the rightmost gap
And toward the thrill.