To My First Dog
To My First Dog
Long asleep in your unknown grave,
My companion, loyal and beloved
Throughout my youth’s growing years,
You cannot know nor now see
How you do still bring tears to me
With memories haunting
Of the ways our friendship yet remains.
Asleep so still…
With fury has over a half-century passed
Since daddy took me to choose you
From a wriggling, yipping litter of
Nine-week-old, black and tan, mutt pups
On a straw-strewn wooden platform set
Against a pet store’s window…All of you
Squirming and…begging
For a child about age nine — like me —
To come pointing, excitedly…begging,
“That one!”
As our black eyes met
— yours directly melting into mine —
Glinting great hopes…
(Remember? )
Now even there ~
In heaven’s waiting while dreaming,
In your halcyon grave’s space ,
You cannot know nor wonder
How love survives still
Holding onto smiles past the tears that grief brings
For a long and deep heart’s treasuring.
E————————————————————————-
(c) sally young eslinger 11/1-3/2023
Thanks be to God———
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