Never Forgotten

A dead dog
thrown away in a pile of garbage
dumped in an alley
between the homes of people
who had no clue about the sadness
beyond their backyards
I wonder these many years later
how he came to be so violated
and so unloved
and why I did nothing about it
I left him there to rot
alone
in a place that did not value life
in a place that almost killed me too
Forever this dog is tattooed
on my soul
and burned in my memories
of a neighborhood
that should have been called Hell