What Awaits
I sleep on the sofa
to be close to my dog
who has hurt her leg
and cannot take stairs.
We are practicing for
old age, when we will
spend our nights
wherever she is.
I fear it is the only
natural thing left in me—
this need to protect her
even as I know
at the end
it will be me who
summons the vet
and then her black
face with white muzzle
through the glass
as I come up the walk
will be gone
and for the first time
in awhile
I will sleep in my bed.