Your tongue flows over

the boulders of your teeth

and flutters in the wind like a man's tie

 I follow in your trotting path

to watch from behind

your velvet ears flap

 you tumble on your side

to snort and wiggle your golden body

in the scratchy grass

 you wag your whole head

and grin when you come to greet me

your whip-like tail waving in arcs

 your muzzle, grown grey

with the decade, is a man's

suede oxford shoe

 because every moment for you

is a prelude to enjoyment

even now as we wait for life

 to pour you back

into its sure-flowing stream

we move within the shadow

 cast by the coming loss of you

I watch your ribs rise

and fall with your living

 find comfort in the knowledge

that you store in the walnut-shaped

bump on your skull

 where among all the things you know

is the best one: that if you wait long enough

something good will always come along.

 

 

© by Tamara Madison.

Used with the author's permission.