Grief, the Great Musician

Rain seeps into every crack and crevice chilling to the bone Winter has arrived with a vengeance and summer is forever gone. Ice slicks the asphalt, into a glittering glistening death trap. Here begins the slow invasion of the unrelenting cold. This grubby little mutt follows one day, His hair matted, claws overgrown. You take pity on the poor thing; Starving and probably ill. (A miserable pup with big sad eyes) And leave blankets and scraps out the door You wonder of his owners forgotten He’s no street dog- well behaved and gentle Perhaps abandoned, lost. But maybe not. He’s ugly, scarred Hairless in patches- He belongs in a kennel. You don’t want him- and feel an inexplicable deep hatred The wag of his tail infuriates and the curve of his snout enrages. You slam the door. A glass spills and everything is red. Merlot on the carpet, scarlet on the bed. You knock over the roses Deep crimson of condolence You want to draw blood, you want to destroy You crave another’s red bloody torment Schadenfreude, be damned His whines pierce- through the cold air of the night, and the solid wooden door. The royal blue E minor: the laments of the abandoned You can’t help but join in song As the wretched creature howls expressivo at the starless sky a symphony of loss. Violins screech to his scratching with trills, mordents and turns. The descending melodic line fades and echos; As the merciless tonic pedal of time ticking crescendos. The clarinets wails accompaniment; subdominant, tonic, leading. And with a plagal cadence, the mutt droops his tail Morning arrives- painfully slow The rising sun thaws anguished aubergine And leave only tender lapis of fingers frostbitten. They struggle; falls a familiar key As you reach and bend Moist; a warmth unexpected and wet As the mutt licks your hand tongue curling around a corpse’s digits nuzzling his cold snout into the back of your knee. Tongue lolling, tail wagging The mutt never leaves. The frost on the tree branches promise Of how you’ve lived and grown They shimmer like precious silver and accent the beauty of home. The fresh biting air, with great gasping breaths you shiver. Here begins a new journey With your most loyal friend.