Joshua the basset hound
A poem.
A basset hound named Buggy has his ears combed at the 2009 Westminster Dog Show in New York.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
May 14, 2014
presses his broad chest against
my leg,
reminding me to keep on
scratching, patting, scratching more;
reminding me to leave my thoughts
and be with
him,
reminding me that this
is the point of all the rest:
to lean with one’s whole being
into the life of another,
to lean with guileless heart,
to lean,
even if, unlike the dog,
we are afraid of falling.