[Critique Group 1] Sally's February submission

[Sally Rosenthal]

NIGHT VISITOR

 

By Sally Rosenthal

 

 

She came to me in a deep sleep's dream

Or perhaps in the moment hovering between dawn and waking.

Although we had not met, I felt no fear

As I knelt before her sitting bulk.

 

Her soft, warm muzzle nudged my hand,

And I cupped it before my fingers moved up to silky ears

And the thick ruff that almost hid her collar.

Tracing solid shoulders and a strong back,

I felt my eager fingers move to grasp

a harness handle but hesitated

because this canine visitor did not belong to me.

In wordless communion, we spoke heart language

As she told me she was waiting for me on the pandemic's other side,

To walk beside me and guide me through my seventies.

Cautioning her that my older body and quiet days

Might mean I could not meet her there,

I knew we would be together in other lives and forms

Because love transcends time and place.

 

As she faded into the night or dawn,

I woke to feel the lingering warmth of her fur

On my hands and a flickering light in my soul.

    

 

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