Those Distant Dogs
Catherine Van Herrin
I think of home and you
When I hear those far-off sounds
Rain piercing a forgotten street
and faceless dogs barking, miles away.
if the windows are open
I can smell the scent you left
it sifts through the curtains
Welcome as baked bread.
The midnight moon shines
on the rocking chair outside
where we sat and laughed
skipping stones on the pond
and the dogs are barking,
far off, away from me now
but they bring me back to you
and all your music,
the air we breathed,
the smoke from that last fire
I think of home and you
when these sounds bless
my hearkened ears
I think of you.