Fat Man's Dream

We are in a field, together,

the oat stems bending, heavy with the fruit of this season's labor,

the sky dimming to the sounds that signal approaching dusk.



An old rooster is calling from a distant barnyard,

coal black crows cry out against the approaching darkness.

There is a large ominous cloud and rolling thunder in the distance.



Field mice skitter among dispersing shafts of fading light

rehearsing their roles as prey to barn owls and gray foxes

that will roam the advancing night.



The dog is old, sick and arthritic, as am I.

Together, we have struggled over the rutted ground

towards a massive solitary oak near the edge of the crop-laden farm.



Much of my companion's coat is now grayed,

his eyes once bright, intense and focused,

now seem to see

not what is before him

but something distant and beyond.



The pain has overcome me.

It pushes me down into the moist brown earth that was once beneath

my feet.

My long time companion lies down

and rests his head on my heaving chest to comfort me.



As I feel him there, my agony seems to lift.

I pick up my head and look out at the undulating dirt road,

a wavering brown ribbon through the perfect field

and watch it disappear as it greets the distant horizon.



I remember a time when I walked this land with a foolish pride,

when the black fertile ground and it's yield

were to my early mind, my own.



Now my kingdom is diminished by the unwelcomed wisdom of my years,

my persona finally molded to the reality of our fleeting foothold on this

earth.

I credit now only my anguish and my last taken labored breath.



A variable wind is suddenly visible,

as it leaves its' momentary imprint on a thousand swaying stalks

bound for the winter harvest.



I put my hand on the soft fur covering his broad head

as I have so many times before,

still trying to absorb some of the simplicity, clarity and wild spirit

of his mind into my own.



He has been my joy, my one certain pleasure in this life.

We share the last vivid colors of the dying sunset.

We take our last shallow breath,

together.