Think on This

By Sandy Long

Talking With My Old Dog

Always, there is risk,
friend.

And at the end,
the unavoidable
    parting from flesh.

I’ve watched your body
for clues to cancers,
failures in organ function,
the slow decline that marks time.

All of this
and more and more
I knew might come.

So I’ve watched like a warrior
for threats and invasions,
I’ve listened like a lover
for your breath in sleep.

Sometimes
there was nothing more
than lying on the bed with you
summer afternoon ­
my hand sliding
a slow soft song
along the bulge
of your belly.

There is the inch of scar
still void of fur
where they lifted your womb;
the ragged rows of nipples
nestled in the fuzz,
the mellow buzz of napping.

	TRR photo by Sandy Long Sadie, 11/3/87 - 9/5/01 (Click for larger image)

Here is what I want you to know:
That it’s clear you’ve loved me,
profoundly, a full-faith devotion
few humans ever summon.

Okay,
you must go.

But damn,
it’s been sweet
and good
and good.

Hmmmmmmm.