LADY

Her name was Lady

But mailmen didn’t call her that

She was polite and sweet only to us

Nudging my hand with a wet nose

Loving a rub along her mongrel coat

She roamed our neighborhood

Duly marking her well-traveled trail

Part pointer my father said

In a new house in a new town

We let her out early one morning

Shaking away the sleep she trotted straight

Down the street looking neither left nor right

But even hunters need some helpful signs

When the chase is done and it’s getting late.

Is she here?  Did she come back?

I asked after school those winter afternoons

Until my mother dreaded the slam of the door

And the long silence that answered back

Even now on dark December nights

When my bones are cold and my knees are stiff

And sleep won’t come

I see her out there

Lost and scared and sniffing

And looking for the path that

Leads to home