Dog On Braided Rug

They spend so much of life napping--
because we give them so few games to play--
that they have learned to sublimate
lost motion into semblances of sleep:

The splayed rear paws, triple-arched
torso, tucked-in tail, tucked-under snout,
crumpled ears and twisting forelegs tell the tale:

This braided rug is a magic place where sleep
is a field of tall grass, where--a black streak!--
he runs excited circles around us, where he knows
we are near.

Dean Blehert

Last Updated: October 5, 2002