16. Canis familiaris

He is curled, midway between
two human bodies and the fire
a sodden toy inert beside his paw.
Eyes close, ears sag, the muscles slack beneath
articulated landscape of his fur.
And behind his eyes, he sees
the open fields
a narrow curling pathway under trees.

The present is for waiting in, as now
for feet, beyond the door
for Jane arriving with her Labrador
bringing again the now familiar routes
that lead across a world of scents
vaprous air, testosterone and pheromones
that ghost around the clumps and roots
the posts and trunks and piles of doo.

Opportunity and threat
all Orphean promise and regret
whilst tethered to the short leap back
into the car then down
the driveway to the fire
a nether world of being
neither, partly human
or completely dog.