you know, dog

Dog, each morning you wake me

with  Ready- or- not- here- I- come inexhaustible exuberance

mattress quaking, bed sheets lifting and twisting under your dancing paws

Get up! Get up! Get up! Aren’t you happy to be alive?

I look at you and where others might see

a nuisance

a waste of space

a lost cause

a drained bank account

an inevitable heart break

I see beauty

From the familiarity of your not so fresh breath

the worn leather of your nose

the scar from a wound incurred in a former life

the spindly legs

the musculature of your haunches

the great white shark jaw

the glassy marbles in place of eyes

the batty ears that smell of earth

the wag, wag, wag of your tail

the fur of feathers and wisps pungent like wet carpet

You have become one of the most beautiful things of my day

Because you know,

dog,

you know when to stop your spinning antics

with that rope toy in your mouth

You know without me uttering a command

to drop everything and settle your body next to mine

Your countenance changes

You know

before a tear even begins to well

that my love meter is down

You know

what my humans overlooked

that I just need a little warmth pressed against me

a reassurance

Someone to have faith in me

When I don’t have faith in myself

You know, dog

you know what symbiosis is all about

this give and take

this loving one another wherever, whenever, no matter what