melissaahowells - Encounter Before Dawn

I awoke
throwing myself out of sleep
and blinked at the early cool dawn

there he stood
as if he were waiting
with a preternatural intelligence

he said to me
I'll be here long after your kind
is gone

his stare was steel
and his eyes looked at me
as if he was looking down a gun barrel
and I was at the other end of his site

my mouth hung open
but not in fright
it was awe

his disheveled bushiness
his scrawniness gave me pause
he persevered I hope
in spite of civilization's' unkind thoughts
and laws

I went to the refrigerator
and threw him a rare piece of roast
he ate it in one swallow

the pink in the sky was forming
maybe it was wisest then
for him to clear out

he bobbed and then,
turned himself in a semi-circle
as if he had reigns
high-stepped and light-footed off
his paws barely touching the ground

I saw him then hunker down
hiding in plain sight
near honking on-coming traffic

it took only a few bounds
for him to cross
and ditch humanity
the dusky dot of him
disappearing
into his own infinity

I realized then
I was holding my breath
with great relief
I sighed
leaving
a thin puff of air
which disintegrated
like a small cloud before me

turning then
I thought of bed
and shelter.

LEGAL COPYRIGHT FOR THIS POEM/EARLY MORNING OBSERVATION
7:53AM 2/19/2020 TIME DATE STAMPED
AND ALSO FOR THIS AUTHOR/POET MELISSA A. HOWELLS
AND ALSO FOR THIS LEGALLY COPYRIGHTED AND REGISTERED SITE TITLE
MELOO STRAIGHT FROM HER TILT-A-WORLD

TO MEMORIALIZE AN ENCOUNTER EARLY SATURDAY MORNING NEAR 5AM
FEBRUARY 15, 2020