Old Dog

[first draft - 8:14 PM 10/11/05]

Like an old dog
Circles the pillow
Glistening with dog hairs,
the promise of blissful rest,
dreams of deer and rabbits
And the gray worlds
seen through a dog's eye

A thousand times before
a thousand times more
Circlings of the pillow
Until satisfaction, finally
Or just exhaustion --
sinking down in awkward relief
delighted with
the effort and the resolution


Likewise the poet
Circles about the empty page
Lifting, staring, twisting, turning
arranging in tiny iterations of angle
removed by degrees from zero

These emotions, practiced a thousand times before
Imploring the muse --

and a thousand times more
watching the pen advance upon the page
in exploratory swoops --

Until finally hovering --
heavy with ink and unfinished thought --


it sinks to the paper
satisfied or just resigned --
scratches out its message
bearing witness to the invisibility of thinking

Copyright 2005 E. Bond Francisco