A Memory of Small Dog Walks

For years we walked that woodland trail  

that leads beside the river shoals. 

On sultry mornings washed in breeze

we lingered by the shady bank. 

You scratched the cool dirt 

and savored the dark scent 

while I bathed in birdsong reveries. 

We watched the waters rushing by 

the rock-strewn reach to sculpted pools. 

Dappled sunlight filtered through 

the hidden depths that harbor lives 

beneath the stream-side canopy. 

The years have slipped to memories,

gossamer fossils left by the living web 

of birds, dogs, moss, and trees – souls 

now bound by unseen thread. 

"Water Lilies" photograph by David Noah,
Winterville, Georgia