The Sweetness of Dogs

What do you say, Percy? I am thinking
of sitting out on the sand to watch
the moon rise. It's full tonight.
So we go

and the moon rises, so beautiful it

makes me shudder, makes me think about

time and space, makes me take

measure of myself: one iota

pondering heaven. Thus we sit, myself

thinking how grateful I am for the moon's

perfect beauty and also, oh! how rich

it is to love the world. Percy, meanwhile,

leans against me and gazes up into 

my face. As though I were just as wonderful

as the perfect moon.

~ Mary Oliver, Dog Songs (London, 2013), p. 61

 

This poem makes me think of the beautiful love between my mother and our family red setter, Molly. With each other, sometimes they are both like Percy in this poem. And they are both wonderful as the perfect moon to me. Here they are on a recent trip home.

9 April 2022