<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hi, everyone, Below is an older poem that I am re-working. This is the original version, and I would like your opinions on how to make it a stronger poem. Thanks, Sally<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>SOLACE<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'>In memory of Kathleen Bennett, 1916 – 2008<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I brought my mother a dog to polish<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The dullness of a nursing home routine<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And make it sparkle with Labrador enthusiasm.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I brought my mother a dog to remind her<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That she was the same person whose ninety-one years<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Had been blessed by canine devotion – from the fox terrier<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Of her native England who, disliking being groomed,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Buried his brush in a neighbor’s garden, from the gentle mastiffs bred and shown<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By her late sister at Crufts, from the family mutts<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Who always found canine Christmas presents under the tree, to the yellow Labrador<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Who, with my hand on her harness, guided me<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Through the institutional halls<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And greeted her with a kiss when we visited.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I brought my mother a dog to salve<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>My conscience for the care I could not provide<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And to assuage my guilt for the luxuries I had at home<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Of meals of my own choosing, hot cups of tea, and quiet privacy.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I brought my mother a dog a few hours<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Before she died. As I held her waif-like hand<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Listening to her changing breath and bidding her safe travel,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I prayed that the woman in the nursing home bed<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That held no hint of home realized<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I had brought us both a dog.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-Sally Rosenthal- <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>