Cement - Mixer Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Cement- mixer

They are re-building the house across the road,
the cement-mixer churns from early morn, a black, big dog
sat barking at it until it lost its voice and sounded
like a helpless kitten wanting milk, it became so embarrassed
by its loss of bark, it went into the shed and refused
to come out before it had got its voice back.
The big black dog has few friends the couple who came here
on vacation left without it and I suppose being from Setubal
it barks in a different way than local dogs.
All cement mixers sound the same this monotone churning
like a padre who likes the sound of his voice and bore
his parishioner senseless, and when staggering out of the church
everyone, even those who do not smoke, lit up.
Soon the mixer will move on and annoy someone else, but
the big black dog has nowhere to go, so I will befriend and learn
its Setubal bark