The Old Dog

 Wordle 487

 

https://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/2020/12/20/wordle-487/

Prompt words in red. 

In the early morning light

I listen to the old dog snore

and bark quietly in his sleep.

I watch him breathe,

follow the movement of his

lungs fill and empty,

fill again.

He wheezes.

I hear him gasp for breath,

wake,

open his eyes

and begin to cough.

Once, twice,

deep and hacking.

I sigh.

Bending down to show him

I’m there,

I paste my lips to his muzzle,

Kiss five times.

Always five times.

Gazing into mine,

his eyes still shine

with divine love.

 

 ©2020 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

 

The true story behind the poem.

Boo isn't "old" yet, he is 10 1/2.  He does have a growth in one lung, which, when enlarged, presses on his trachea, causing snoring early on, and a hacking cough at its worst.  It sounds like Kennel Cough, which, if you have heard it, is a frightening sound.  The vet does not know what the mass is, and can’t biopsy it in case it’s an abscess.  X-rays show it shrinks with steroids and antibiotics, so that’s what we do.  Right now he is at the snoring stage again, and his prescriptions are refilled and waiting.