Near Halloween
He turned thirteen
Buddy boy born,
It’s a good boy yarn:
Came to us as an adolescent
Eager, fun, ever present
Present for the scent
Of every teaching treat
Sit, stay, come, heel…
(The last one meant walk, walk WALK!
Down to the park!
Smelling all my neighbors!)
But Halloween was hard
Doorbells, voices, lights,
Mobs of noisy people
Invading his protected spaces
Lunging! Barking!
Instinct loosed!
He learned, through the kids,
The “trick or treat”
Then he learned to love it all!
Licking costumed faces
Sniffing ***** bags
For obedience treats
It used to be hard with every doorbell dash
To control big golden yellow buddy boy
As we, and he, got older
(he quicker, the 7 to 1 brief flicker)
We relaxed our grip on him
As he mingled with wizards and goblins
When the next mob of kids arrive
Your SpongeBobs, your Vader’s, your Ghostie-ghouly space invaders
No tricks, a real treat: a new generation meets
Mellow yellow buddy boy saying, “Hi"
