Jake What is more important than you being here with me? I have all the insight of a spirit that is free. Push against me, hard, so that I know that you are there. Grab my nape with meaning, like a mother’s forceful care. You know everything revolves around togetherness. You know every moment lives in its foreverness. Memory is useless to produce a brand new start. Forgivingness, forgetfulness, cleanse the lykened heart. Take me with you when you go, Let me smell so I can know, Let me mark so I can be, Give me leash so I can see. I will lay just here, so I’m at least this close to you. You will sit right there, so you can do what you must do. When the distance feels too great, I’ll nudge you with my nose. If you’re too far gone to notice, I’ll nibble at your toes. I’ll give you some respite while I grind a marrowed bone. All I ask is throw it, so I know I’m not alone. It tastes much more delicious when I know that it is mine. Then you can grind you own, until it’s happy walking time. Give me routine in my day, Let me know that you will stay, Give me bedding I can keep, Come and pet me while I sleep. The pack is simple, you and yours, are now a part of me. Though we eat in different places, it is plain for all to see. We share our warmth, we share our roof, we share our mealtime breath. We have our jobs, we stick to them, I clean the kitchen mess. I schedule all my naptimes to coincide with yours. I am there, dependably, when you are at your chores. No stink or mess or movement foul, is anything but ours. I’ll defend our homestead, both day an night-time hours. I am strongest when you’re with me, You are safest by my side. Even at a distance, I know you feel my pride. © Sean G. O’Leary Mar. 2023
