My Santiago

A Dog’s Life

Alert, Lightly bouncing on soles of padded feet, She stares you out. Ears cocked, body tense, Hurrying over to a noise, A rustle of leaves, sniffing, mysterious, Imbued with the importance of her task at hand, Now giving it her fullest concentration. Returning to the scene, She picks up her playthings, Broken bits of ball, vacuum cleaner pieces,

Headshaking, almost smiling, Luring us to join her in play.

Now sitting, alert to every suburban noise of birds, cats, the noise of lawnmowers revving to life, Across the quarter acre boundaries of corrugated iron, A plane climbing high, higher and higher.

On a clear, fresh, spring evening, Rolling on the freshly cut lawn, Abandoning herself to the sheer joy of life, Lived for the present.

In the way humans have lost!