Poetry | Just a dog by Bruce Hanna

just a dog
by Bruce Hanna

nice dog
some kind of retriever
but darker, smaller
gray, not blushing blonde
just a dog

in church
first time I saw her
with a green vest
don’t pet me, service dog in training
oh, don’t touch

in restaurants, grocery stores
parks, movies
motels, her home
in kindergarten
don’t touch

she wiggled a little at first
was aware of people
watched knowingly
learning to work
don’t touch

Roselle in a green vest
became a fixture in church
one of the crowd
it got easier
not to touch

then she was gone
to school, to work
to learn to support her human
keep him/her safe, she learned well
just a dog

with him when it happened
led him down 78 flights of stairs
thru panicked, screaming people
to safety
just a dog in New York 9/11/01

BH 9/11/19

footnote: Roselle and her blind human were the poster couple for rescue dogs in 2002. My friends Kay and Ted loved her, prepared her. A bit of their souls helped Her down those stairs that scary, sad day.

Link to video remembrance by her human