This morning coming down the stairs
I had to wade
through a small pool of dogs
first our two poodles
pleading with expectant eyea
for an excursion to the dog park
then our daughter Dawn's sweet-tempered pitbull
Oakley giving me a guilty one-eyed glance
as if to say "I know that I was wrong
to bark at you in your own house
but understand I'm not so used to men
and you're still something of a stranger"
Then there were Jay's two Yorkies
bright-eyed, inquisitive
their faces more child-like than dog-like
and so tiny that they seem another species
but oh how my dear wife has taken to them
cuddling them as if cuddling the babes
her daughters were a short lifetime ago
I suspect there may be Yorkies in our future
and I'll just have to learn to see them
for the dogs they are