Apr 24, 2014 Original Poetry

Dog-Joy (Or: Completion)

©April 15^th, 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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Tags: #Contentment, #Dogs, #NaPoWriMo, Canine joy, Puppy