Puppy

Puppy

Every morning

I roll these bones out of bed

And you greet me with awe,

That I am moving

And you are happy to see me

And I ruffle your ears

You sneeze

I put you outside for a piddle

And you come running right back because you miss me

And I go into the shower

And you lay down outside the door

Waiting

I get dressed, put on makeup, brush my teeth

Then feed you

All the while, there are belly rubs, and I kiss your forehead

And then I leave for work.

I miss you

But my focus is on a computer screen

Fingers on the keyboard tapping wildly

I look down

And one of your hairs on my sweater

I pick it off and drop it to the floor

Like you don’t matter

But that simply isn’t true

I can’t feed you or me without this work

I would much prefer to be home

Take you for a walk

A run, play and jump and nap

I am stuck in monitor glow and forget

You are home by yourself

Sitting by the front door waiting for me

For eight and a half hours you are alone.

And we repeat this madness everyday

For five days straight

And I hate every minute being away from you

Leaving you behind

And alone

And I can’t help calculating that

Your short-short life will last 13-years

If we are lucky

You will have 4,745 days to your life

And I will spend 3,250 of them working

But I will love you for every minute

And you will love me

And every day when I come home

You will be overjoyed to see me

And I will return the same love to you

Because you are my puppy.