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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>NIGHT VISITOR<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By Sally Rosenthal<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>She came to me in a deep sleep’s dream<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Or perhaps in the moment hovering between dawn and waking.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Although we had not met, I felt no fear<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As I knelt before her sitting bulk.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Her soft, warm muzzle nudged my hand,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And I cupped it before my fingers moved up to silky ears<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And the thick ruff that almost hid her collar.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Tracing solid shoulders and a strong back,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I felt my eager fingers move to grasp<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>a harness handle but hesitated<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>because this canine visitor did not belong to me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In wordless communion, we spoke heart language<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As she told me she was waiting for me on the pandemic’s other side,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>To walk beside me and guide me through my seventies.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Cautioning her that my older body and quiet days<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Might mean I could not meet her there,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I knew we would be together in other lives and forms<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Because love transcends time and place.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As she faded into the night or dawn,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I woke to feel the lingering warmth of her fur<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On my hands and a flickering light in my soul.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>