Close your eyes
Take a deep breath
Open your ears 

Can you hear the creaking 
of the ancient dog upon the wooden floor? 
Her clicking echoes as she searches for your hand. 

Take a deep breath
Open your nose

Can you smell the tangy 
drifts of summer, squeezing wafts of ripened 
garden lemons through the yawning window? 

Take a deep breath
Open your fist

Leathered fingers unfurl
like willows in the tradewinds, flexing and 
unbreakable. Finding you at last,

the dog pushes her wet nose into your
ready palm. The door is beckoning.