In Touch With the World - Aug 16 2022

 

In Touch With the World

Aug 16 2022

She does everything fast,

zig-zagging down the path

on 4 agile legs

with the lightness of a dancer,

tail erect

nostrils flared

nose to the ground.

She makes loud snuffling sounds,

inhaling

the way a connoisseur savours wine,

slurping, swishing, spitting out.

Every scent

sampled, detected, compared,

then filed away

for next time.

Meanwhile, on autopilot

I walk behind

lost in my head

deep in thought.

Unlike her, I'm a visual creature,

but seeing

is not the same as observing.

So while she is avid, alert

in touch with the world

I am sadly absent.

When we return

I look down at her wet black nose

bright liquid eyes

enthusiastic tail,

and begin to recite

the words of the poem

that formed in my head as we walked.

While she intently watches,

quizzically cocking her head

as I mouth my usual gibberish.

If only she, in turn, could reveal

what secrets she's unearthed

on that ever-changing path.

Because while landscape is fixed

scent is never the same,

day-to-day

and over time.

The cornucopia of smells

and the stories they might tell

to her blind and heedless companion.