The Godly Greetings of Dogs

by Lou Jacobs

Each time I visit
her little brown house
and begin to make my way
down her walk,
I see, first, her two
yellow labs and
her edgy Jack Russell,
tied on long leads
near her door. I stop;
"Hello, hello,"
I call. "Hello, Myr,
Hello Fionn," I call.
"Hello, Mac."
And they look
and wag
and bark, stare and
smile (in the earnest
and honest way that dogs smile)
as if I am
okay.

And, for an instant,
I look into my own
alien heart
(where I have never before
enjoyed looking)
and nod,
and go forward,
into their good embrace.

© Lou Jacobs, 2003

Lou Jacobs hails from Smartsmith, Iowa, where he raises snails and writes poetry "now and again." This is his first published poem.