Flight
 |
She sniffed out bones.
One sultry summer in the South Pacific
she searched for Amelia Earhart
on a desert island no bigger
than a Mack truck hubcap.
And she did find bones.
For the sake of the story, though,
let’s say she found just one:
long and pristine, the bulbous end
peeking out from the gleaming white sand
beneath a nodding palm.
But it was not Amelia’s.
People had actually lived on that tiny island,
scraped out gardens, existences.
A war had been fought there.
The bone could have been anyone’s. No one’s.
And Amelia remains nowhere to be found.
Some mysteries may be better left that way.
But Marcy was no mystery:
a black-and-white border collie
with a goofy grin and ears akimbo,
she lived to fetch, to chase after a tug-toy,
her reward for a job well done.
Off she would fly,
eyes bright with delight.
More! More!
RIP 3/19/21
One sultry summer in the South Pacific
she searched for Amelia Earhart
on a desert island no bigger
than a Mack truck hubcap.
And she did find bones.
For the sake of the story, though,
let’s say she found just one:
long and pristine, the bulbous end
peeking out from the gleaming white sand
beneath a nodding palm.
But it was not Amelia’s.
People had actually lived on that tiny island,
scraped out gardens, existences.
A war had been fought there.
The bone could have been anyone’s. No one’s.
And Amelia remains nowhere to be found.
Some mysteries may be better left that way.
But Marcy was no mystery:
a black-and-white border collie
with a goofy grin and ears akimbo,
she lived to fetch, to chase after a tug-toy,
her reward for a job well done.
Off she would fly,
eyes bright with delight.
More! More!
RIP 3/19/21
2 comments:
So much about this I adore, starting with the fact you're writing (and publishing) poetry. Also, the dog. Her devotion. And I remember when she went on that search. My sympathies on her passing, but what a legacy.
The poem led me to meet the beloved dog, a working dog with stories of its own. The "O's" had me from the start and pinned almost every line through to the end. Loved that as well as the memorial to the dog's life. I learned so much about this hard-working canine that I view them as a class onto their own. Thank you for sharing this poignant piece. Your respect and affection is so evident.
Post a Comment