is the name of the smallest dog 
because the woman says it when 
the shag carpet on a leash stops 
to sniff at the pavilion post 

Come on Pandora, as if to let this creature 
get too curious is not to be countenanced and 
for a moment I wonder about my sequestration 
here on the bench and the fate of all I survey, how much 

Pandora suspects, if I am one of the Evils 
to be kept under lock and key, the muscle-
shirted man with the woman guiding two 
huge dogs who, in tandem as they are, 

much too closely resemble Cerberus, 
but they pass, finally, on down the path, the maw 
of Perdition passing with them, 
and it is placid once more at lakeside, my secrets 

and I still safe in the gazebo, one cricket singing 
in the corner, until here they come from the other direction, 
Hades and Hecate with hell hounds straining, 
and Pandora sniffs and the cricket falls silent. 

Bio: Robert L. Dean, Jr.