LEO

Leo, noble dog of the North New Mexican highlands
three footed wonder dog
he gallops the arroyo

panting, backtracking, bolting
the endearing birthright of a dog.
He still has more sense than me.

After aches from the ludicrous length of our walk
have my hamstrings
he dutifully lies down in the sand, and pants smilingly
as if to say, "ah come on, please."

But I keep going called by mountains
as landscapes change by degrees.
And he follows humble, and brave.
He is the perseverant Leo.

Later we pick our way through shallow valley snow
a low ceiling of branches near above
and I coax him into this earth crag
a fitting place to rest.

Deep inside the dark dirt
of no particular place
perhaps imported from New York
for a California fault line imported to New Mexico.
(But Leo doesn't know)...

I look up past piñon and juniper roots
past their greens to the warm blue sky.
We saw many more stupendous things further on,
but that's where it should have stopped.

Started while residing on Paseo del Sur in Santa Fe NM; 1994, age 26 or 27.