I was shooting for 7-9-8-5, so it was somewhat contracted to fit. Why 7-9-8-5? Because that was what the first verse came out to and I liked the meter of it when I read it aloud. No idea if it fits into any official poetry style or not. Also struggled with half counts, such as cocked. I don't really read that as two seperate beats, so I counted the previous line as 9 1/2 and called it close enough. :-) I really wrote it from my mom's point of view. She was the one home with the dog after my dad died. The dog lived at least another 10 years, but I don't think he ever really got used to my dad not being there. jon

 
~jon
My Blog - Mad Utopia Writing in a new era.