Thursday, August 23, 2012

On My 11-Year-Old Daughter Spotting the Family Dog Who Was Given Away During a Divorce


Old dog,
We gave you away.
And there you were 
One late August afternoon,
When I was 11 and playing goalie
On a club soccer team,
Your traipsed along the field alone,
Near your new private-school home.
On the grassy rise,
I saw you sniff your way,
Looking a little bigger
And milling about.
I remember you
When you were a pup.
How I loved you.
Now great distances
Separate us —
And the narrow passage
Of time in a dog's mind
And the vastness 
Of my little girl's mind
Cracks my heart a little,
Places a fissure in it,
That will scar over,
But never fully heal.

No comments:

Post a Comment