SPIRITLIFTER VIII - "IN PRAISE OF OLD DOGS" By Tim Olson -

You often hear when a someone is holding a puppy, “Nothing is as cute and cuddly as a puppy!” Of old dogs, it is often said, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. ” As if they aren’t as smart as they used to be. The truth might be that they are too smart to keep wanting to learn tricks to amuse people. Their deep, brown, soulful eyes reveal something else. With grace and intuitive wisdom they accept the inevitable and yet their noses will still sniff the air for what new adventures await them and invite them to further explorations and discoveries.

OLD DOG IN MARCH

Ted Kooser

From a cold stone stoop,

stepping down slowly

into another spring,

stretching his back,

stretching his back legs,

one at a time,

making a bridge

with his spine, reaching

from winter out and out,

forever out it seems,

then quaking at the end of it

all down his length

so that his claws

skitter a little, losing

their grip on the world,

an old brown dog

gone stiff from chasing

all winter through dreams,

recovers his balance,

and, one ache at a time,

lowers himself

to the solid feel of promise,

where with pink tip

of tongue between his teeth,

and frosty muzzle,

he sips the cool, delicious

richly storied wind.

OLD DOGS AT REST

Are they dreaming of past adventures? Are they imagining new adventures? Are people in their dreams? Sometimes a person will say, “If dogs could talk.” Perhaps, “If people knew how to listen.”