Fire Dogs

Fire dogs never sleep when the hearth is awake

Restlessness sat on them; a sojourn outside to make
When the green fields are laced lightly in white
Or the sun hung in a blue sky lower than sight
Birds call from deep within the fastness of holly
To ward off the cold and mourn their sibling folly
A badger may so stir, or a fox may his hunger blunt
But the fire dog knows to survive now he must hunt