Lullaby for the Wet Paws

(To Gile, with love and gratitude. October 2012 - May 2023) 

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)

All the places they’ve gone to

Been in

Ran through,

These paws

The adventures in the yard

The deep greens of the ferns

The intricacies of the trellis

The pebbles

The earth

The illegitimate escapes in the alley

(But always running back,

Always pitter-pattering home,

A good boy),

These paws

Pushing through the back of the chair

To pull at my sleeve,

These paws

Pressing gently against my side while napping,

These paws

Daintily gripping at my shoulders

While hitching a piggy-back ride

These paws

Are now wet because you stuck them

Into the water bowl, trying to cool down in your illness

Needing to take them somewhere else

Somewhere they haven’t been.

 

These paws

Need to stop

And rest

And dream

(Of kitty cuddles, spring puddles…)

And I will have to

Wipe the floor and erase

The fine trail of your paw prints

Meandering through the house

One last time

Before I let you go.