Dog-Joy (Or: Completion)
©April 15th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
I find I take delight
In my dog’s proud walk,
As she picks up a stick
And claims it in the
Name of Holly.
Utterly undone, I kneel,
As she twists her whole
Frame in wordless ecstasy
When she sees me —
This smiling curve of dog
And joyful tail,
And gentle teeth
That grab my hand
And nip and hold it in love
Beyond reckoning.
I am complete.
Who greets me like this?
(Oh, I know I am loved,
But like this? This pretzel-
Shaped frenzy of joy,
This luminous, numinous
Delight in my being?
Oh, I know I don’t deserve it,
But who cares?!)
And when she lies near me,
A love unlike no other,
Her soft, puppy fur
On my feet, warming them,
A wild presence at the
Boundaries of my own,
I find my brain
Dissolves in a mist
Of dog-thought.
I think:
Why dream?
Why do anything?
It doesn’t matter,
Not now.
Oh, I know I’ll arise
And go about my duties
And do stuff, but
I don’t really care
For any of it.
I have this dog,
This now-sleeping
Weight of dog
At my feet.
I am complete.
No, there is no despair here,
Just utter, total quiet
A settling, as it were,
Of soul and self:
A house settling deeper
Into earth.
I am complete
With her on my feet.
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