DOWN THE OLE DOG N CAGE:

In the silence before the household wakes, me & a dog in a cage respectfully don’t communicate. Sunrise, hidden though it is by thick cloud, casts milky  light on us both. I catch it’s eye, it bangs an optimistic rhythm on the bars  with it’s tail. We both know how much we want to walk, let the cold air lift  us with it’s damp slap, leave our thick heads amongst the hawthorn scribble, walk & don’t look back.  The dog wines, rattles it’s cage, gets restless, the pipes hiss, people shower, someone belches, sneezes, the house is waking. I feel time for quiet meditation,  slip away, yet still enough for inward reflection & with it laughter at the  serious face I find in the mirror this morning.

(K)