Once More Poem by Paul C. Maybury Jr.

My dog is getting older now,
His head rests on his paws.
He watches me with furrowed brow
Black nose and grizzled jaws.

He hears me pick up phone and keys
The clues that I might drive.
Perked ears and one wag ask me please,
Take me! Keep me alive!

I have not heart to leave him there,
Who so soon will be gone.
I love my little golden bear
Who greets me with the dawn.

He doesn’t know his empty bed
Will tear my heart in two.
The empty future my eyes red
See now, the then I’ll rue.

I say to him, “All right, let’s go.”
And he leaps up, a little slow.
So one more day I have my friend.
Once more at least, down roads we wend.