My faithful dog
Got too old
to stand
Alone
My faithful dog
Took all my
Secrets
With her
My faithful dog
Had fewer moments
To live in
as time
Eroded
her muscles
And she spent
Her moments
Fighting pain
My faithful dog
Was fifteen
Through the pain
She was
Always happy
To see me
No wags
To greet me
This morning
Overwhelming
It is time
Dog food bags
Have been
getting smaller
I don't think
This one is going
To get eaten
Fully
Five A.M. And
She's crying
She who never
Complains.
She who sleeps
through the night
She wants to get up
But she can't.
I am her lift
She can't
Comprehend
Neither of us
Will ever
understand
O Stardust
Coming back home
She always heads for
The lower door,
The one she's
Never been through
As if, today by magic
It was our door.
Her way of trying
to avoid the stairs
Which, to a
fifteen year old
Border Collie (not really)
Are daunting.
Some days
she is able
To climb
each stair
In sequence.
Not her puppy
scramble rhythm,
but plodding...
Her gait ...in
shuffling triplets
Ka chung ka chung ka chung
Those days I reward her
With a pat on the head
And all my relief
Knowing we cheated
Time
Some days
she stalls a bit
And needs
a physical prompt
To remind her where
Her haunches are.
We make it to the top
And when we get to the top
she looks at me
As if to say "thanks"
But really
wondering
"Why?"
Some days
She collapses
And I try
To keep her from
Tumbling backward
Today was like that.
I picked her up
And carried her
To the top
Of the stairs
And as I put her
Down gently,
We looked
at each other
In symbiotic
wonderment
And she licked
My tears
