Jazz

Before we met you, I had a dream

about you

We were in the yard

planting flowers

and you were frolicking.

I woke up and wondered

if you could be real.

And then you came to us in a snowstorm

A blur of black on the frozen landscape

“Tank”, they called you

We’d have to do something about that.

It was love at first sight, for me

Your head was soft black velvet

Your bark was fear to an intruder

Your love of Dad’s guitar music was first,

but WRTI’s jazz made you mellow.

You had no tolerance for smaller creatures,

perhaps from your former life,

who knows what you’d experienced?

You gave us 6 years of love and loyalty,

from the blizzard of ’14

where it was all we could do to stay warm

when the power was out for 4 days,

to the pandemic of 2020

when oblivious dogs were thrilled

that their people stayed home.

We loved you long and well

and you rewarded us with smiles and wags

even when you were too lazy to get up.

You lived to the fullest,

frisky to your last day,

chasing the cat and being an overgrown puppy,

until the day when you lay down and

would not get up.

You were only eight

but your clock had wound down.

Holding your incredibly soft head

you drifted away

to where the good dogs go,

which is all of them.

You are in that part of our hearts

reserved for the innocent

Souls in different shaped bodies.

Farewell, fuzzy friend.

Run and play with

our old furry friends.

We will see you there

when our clocks have wound down.