Inhale the Sky
for Cowboy
My dog’s tracking our quarry -- across grass
to tennis courts, along the shady treeline. Then
whoop! He cuts south, breeze full
in my face, behind my back – hide & seek
with sky and my dog swings wide and happy.
Head high. Forget that step-by-step
trail of evidence, every wrong turn
the “lost man” made. Cowboy was born to range
unfenced give-him-land far from road
give him hills and valleys, green grass playing-
field on summer break, he intercepts
scent free-flowing on the briefest breeze.
Straight to his quarry – the wrong way, who
cares? He’s old enough to be retired,
to lie at my feet and dream.
Just this morning, let him lift his nose
off the ground,
inhale the sky entire.
~ Taylor Graham
from Uplift (www.coldriverpress.org)