My life is measured in dog years,
marked by memories and smells,
small piles of hair
filling the corners of rooms,
filtering through the sunlight air.
I gather together the rich feel
and smell of warm summers
of fur mired with drying pond,
the exuberance of flying across
the field to dive into the blissful
wetness of mud and weeds.
Though individual in essence,
you blend into the blessing
I call dog,
and keep me warm in the
spaces between you.