Mush

Dark out at four o'clock,
the road a sheet of ice,
cars snow-covered like
igloo huts; why go outside?
To get grub at the store,
drag it back on the sled,
the huskies like the work
and the cold; I give each
a pastrami sandwich on rye
with mustard; their names
are Mutt & Jeff -- their eyes
light up in the dark, they
sleep beside my bed and
they obey the red law of
tooth and claw here in the
cruel North where nature
spares no man or woman.