Snowy afternoon

That snowy afternoon a galaxy

appeared on your dog's black back

while we talked. Stars took

their places, planets, whole constellations

gathered there, marvelous as a meteor shower,

until with a few friendly, unthinking strokes

I wiped the whole sky clean,

and it began to fill again.

It seemed the kind of tender beauty

too fleeting to mention

just then and there,

this galaxy falling gently

onto your dog's back.