Your Dog and I

Your dog and I

We wander the house

Aimless

I take up a task for a moment

Then return to the couch

He turns in circles

And lays back down

These days are better

My mind will settle on a book

And your absence isn't a physical pain

But I remember those days

Curled up here on the couch

Only sleep would ease the ache

Of missing you

Those days and months

When even your imminent return

Failed to revive my soul

When missing you

ruled the day

even when you were here

It got easier

You said it would

But you and I apart

Will never be right

Your dog and I

We will always be here

Slightly less ourselves

When you are gone

Unsure how to compose our bodies

Without you to lean against

Without your foot to step on

So, we circle and sit

We look for distraction

We listen

For the sound of you

Our man, at the door

Fragile, Winged Prayers

Away you go into the wide, wide world

into the busy-ness and the crowds,

fast moving machines and security screens

With your uniform on, passing through

going places, meeting people, seeing things

And there is energy everywhere.  You only see the good, because you have that spirit of goodness about you. But I know that there is bad out there too

I try to believe that you are safe because it helps me stay sane

But underneath your epaulets and behind your zipper-tie,

hidden beneath the shield of professional competency

I know you are still that vulnerable boy

Whom I love

and long to protect

I can do nothing from here except pray you safely onto the ground, safely back home to me

So I send out my prayers like a flock of migrating butterflies

I beg them to surround you

shield you as your uniform cannot

from the broken planes and all that is bad in the world

from the places of the lost and stolen

from anyone or anything that would bring harm to you.

When you feel that soft brush of butterfly wings against your cheek,

but find that there is nothing there,

know that you are surrounded by my fragile, winged, prayers

by my love, guiding you safely home.

What Missing You Feels Like