I lay down this afternoon
and the dog lay down beside,
his thick pelt against my legs and ribs,
that should I wake
I might know the confidence
of fur
against my skin.
The touch
had courage like
the fire burning gently
in the stove
that heats the house
all winter long;
and all the dark and cold of thought
receded
from within that
russet cloud of love
where we mingled
in our separate dreams
of prehistoric fires
and running in the hunt
looking for the other's eyes
until they met
and locked
and dog and man
were both made
whole again
within
the pack of man and dog.