The 2nd of my poems in Verse-Virtual. Appropriate, I think, on this first day of October.
The autumn rain last night
left the earth boggy, trees dripping,
sky fog-murky and chill. My dog
doesn’t brood over this. He sets off,
grass wet beneath his paws,
the scents of animals and earth
glorified. I watch him following
the zigzag of a rabbit’s trail
until he loses it, circles back, nose eager,
tracing it again. We’ve shared twelve years
of walks together, sniffing for rabbits,
chasing squirrels. He is faster than I am,
more earnest and wise, certain
of the people and things he loves.
Now he races back where I’ve lingered,
ankle deep in this poem, telling me it’s time
to move on, to celebrate his lovely morning
of rabbits and mist.
Sarah Russell Poetry 