A Question

—for Marcia Vanderlip

Were we unwise—here in the midst of our

respective dotages—to adopt these,

our sixth and seventh Labradors? Most days,

I would answer no. Our lives together

have been blessed, for thirty-plus years, with one

or two or three sweet Labradors sharing

our bed at night, cheering our luminous

days. When our sweet and goofy Moses passed

but four months after our sweet and patient

Sophia, I’d thought I could not bear such

heartbreak another time. I still think that.

*

Wisdom proves to be a mostly subtle

quality—one we rarely recognize

at once. It seems to slowly show itself,

for the most part in retrospect. These dogs

will surely break our hearts, but that will be

because they first so opened them that we

could complete our journeys yet gently attended.